41 Books of Me
by 41 Books of Me
Summary: Naruto schemes to win Sakura's heart, but she doubts it will work. What happens when she starts to fall for the plan, but stays in denial of it the whole time? Hopefully Naruto's stories can bring her closer to the truth of her feelings for him.
1. Book One: Trustworthiness

This will be my best story ever. I'm determined of it. P.S. Yeah this is gonna have 41 chapters. Each one will be a different "book". You'll get it when you read the story.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 1: Trustworthiness

Her name was Sakura Haruno. She was 16 and lived in Konohagakure. She was a respected kunoichi and medical ninja who had trained under the hokage, Tsunade, herself. She had two best friends, Naruto Uzumaki and Ino Yamanaka. The three of them were hard to separate.

Sakura and Ino were constantly talking about relationships and, in Sakura's case anyways, Sasuke Uchiha. The "last" Uchiha. He ran away from Konoha when they were 13 to get stronger and kill his older brother. Sakura only had eyes for him.

This caused problems though. Naruto, you see, loved Sakura with all of his heart. He had since he first met her. She either didn't notice or chose to ignore it. He guessed the lateral. He was determined to do two things in his life. Become the hokage, but that's not important right now, and get Sakura to love him. That's what lead to the current situation.

Naruto, Sakura, and Ino were all walking down the street chatting. Sakura and Ino had starting chatting about boys and Sasuke again when Naruto suddenly spoke up.

"You know Sakura, I'm gonna get you to love me someday." Sakura gave Naruto a not-this-again look.

"You're wrong Naruto. I love Sasuke and only Sasuke," Sakura replied in a daze. Naruto sighed. This was getting annoying.

"I will. I have a plan. It's a master plan and in the end, you won't be able to resist me." Sakura just laughed. Ino, however, looked at Naruto curiously.

"How are you going to do that, Naruto?" She asked with pure interest ringing in her voice. Naruto smirked.

"Easy. I'm going to write 41 books. Each one will show a different side of me. By the time I finish the last one, I'll have girls swarming me, and Sakura will be pounding away at them just to get to the top and reach me." Sakura gave a loud laugh of no belief.

"Yeah right. Come on, let's go," Sakura waved for Ino and Naruto to follow her as she began to walk towards their destination of Ichiraku Ramen. Naruto didn't move though.

"I can't come. I have to write my first book. It will have at least 10 chapters and be all about how trustworthy I am. That's one of my main points in personality." Naruto then turned around and ran off back towards his apartment. Ino and Sakura just watched him disappear.

"Wow…he was serious…" Sakura commented with a surprised voice.

"Of course he was," Ino butted in. "He loves you for crying out loud. He would do anything for even a kiss from you. Let's just leave him to finish his books."

Sakura and Ino then again began their journey to Icharaku Ramen.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was beginning to get worried and annoyed with Naruto and Ino was just worried. Naruto hadn't been out of his apartment in about 3 weeks. This was ridiculous. Was he really going to stay indoors and not train? Sakura was going to drag him out.

Ino and Sakura were outside of Naruto's apartment. Sakura was banging on Naruto's door and the door seemed about ready to break. They had been there for about 15 minutes and Naruto still hadn't answered the door. Sakura was about ready to leave when the door opened to reveal a tired looking Naruto in only his boxers.

"Oh hey you two," he greeted as he opened the door. "What are you doing here?" Sakura's eyes were glued to Naruto's abs and Ino's weren't much better. Was Naruto really as strong as he looked? How had he not lost that muscle after being in his room for so long? Sakura was blushing madly when she finally answered.

"We came to see if you were okay and if you were training," Sakura blurted out quickly. Naruto smiled. He thought no one would care if he just up and disappeared. Apparently he was wrong.

"Well I'm fine and yes I have been training, but It's been at night because I barely have time to train with writing my first book. It's finished though and it was totally worth it. Even if I haven't slept. I sent the book to pervy sage and he should get it published soon. Look in the book stores for Trustworthiness: The First Book of 41 Books of Me by Naruto Uzumaki and you'll see. I'm just one step closer to winning your heart. Now I gotta go sleep. I'm tired." With that said, Naruto closed his door and returned to bed.

Ino and Sakura soon departed. Sakura was definitely gonna check book stores. She wanted to see how crummy the book was gonna be.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura had bought the book immediately after the bookstores took it into stock. She was the first person to buy it and she read it fairly quickly. She was amazed at how deep the book went. It gave so many stories from his life and actually included 15 chapters. Definitely over 10 like Naruto had said.

She really enjoyed the book and she looked forward to the other books. That scared her though. If this was only the first book, then how ensnared would she be in the series by the 41st book? She was so doomed. She didn't think much of it though as she was still only one of a few people to buy and read the book. It wasn't that major yet.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

It had been only one week since Naruto released his book. It was a big hit. Over 20 million girls and around 5 million guys had bought the book. It was the biggest seller since the Icha Icha series, and that was saying something.

Sakura was seriously getting scared. Naruto had actually started his mission and it was a success so far. If this kept up, then his plan would definitely succeed. What was she going to do? All she could do for now was wait.

\(O.O)/

That's the end of chapter one. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review. Please no flames.


	2. Book Two: Caring

Well this is chapter two to 41 Books of Me. I really want to make this story be really good. I hope you enjoy.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 2: Caring

Naruto sat at home writing. Every door and window in his apartment was locked, bolted, and boarded. He knew his book would get him started on his plan, but he never knew it would attract so many fan girls. They were constantly breaking in and it wasn't uncommon to wake up in a foreign room with two to three girls. He just wished it would end. He did really only want one girl.

His second book would be called _Caring_. He was going to put all the times when he protected his friends in here. Like during his mission to investigate one of Orochimaru's hideouts that was in use.

_This was my first time working with Anko Mitarashi and Shino Aburame. It was my first or second time working with Ino Yamanaka. That's why I can't count her as a first time partner. Anyway, I met this girl named Isaribi in the Land of Sea. She was very special…..in ways I can't tell._

_We were sent to protect merchant ships from a demon. That demon soon turned out to be Isarabi. I protected her from the Men who worked for Orochimaru. They were threatening to kill her when she stopped attacking the ship we were on. The men were soon defeated and, with the help of Gamabunta, I also defeated a giant water creature that was summoned._

Naruto had just finished that paragraph when he heard the door fall down.

"Damn it," he cursed. "Not again."

Naruto was then dragged away from his apartment by hordes of fan girls. He wasn't sure where he was going to be taken and he was scared for how the situation was going to turn out.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was walking through the village reading _Trustworthiness_ again when she heard screaming. She quickly marked her page and hurried to the scene. What she saw made her laugh harder than ever before. Naruto was being tug-o-warred on by a mob of hungry fan girls and a large group of his clones. He was screaming as he held onto the hands of his nearest clone for dear life. He then saw Sakura.

"Sakrua-chan! Please help me!" he cried out to her. She then realized the seriousness of the situation. Naruto never asked for help. He was normally the one giving help. This was definitely a very serious and dangerous problem and she needed to get Naruto out of it now.

Sakura quickly darted to the clones' side and took the spot of the first clone. With a mighty tug, she sent the girls toppling and was quickly running away with Naruto while the clones split up to confuse the girls.

She was soon at Naruto's apartment with an unconscious Naruto still being dragged behind her. She looked around the apartment before noticing Naruto's desk and its contents. She gently laid Naruto on the floor and walked over to read a preview of his next book. She looked over to Naruto excitedly. She had a lot to look forward to when he finished and it was published.

Sakura then made a decision. She picked up the unconscious Naruto and set him down at his desk. She was going to make sure that he finished it. A switch then clicked in Sakura's head. She was falling right into his trap. She soon erased the thought with another. She wasn't falling into his trap. She still felt nothing for him. She just likes his books. That was all.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto woke up with a sudden shock and screamed thinking he was still with the fan girls. He then looked around and gave a sigh of relief when he realized he was back in his apartment. At his desk for that matter. Looked like Sakura liked his story. His plan was working.

Naruto smiled happily. At this rate Sakura would love him before he even finished the tenth book. Naruto then looked back down at his next story and sighed. That would be if he could finish all those books. He was gonna need a lot of headache medicine.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura and Ino sat inside Icharaku Ramen eating and talking. They were having fun and they hadn't been together in a good while. Sakura had missed their fun talks. They were talking about boys again when Ino brought up a sore topic for Sakura.

"Hey, Sakura. What do you think of Naruto's story? What about his plan? Do you think it will work?" Ino asked happily. Sakura scowled. Ino just wanted to torture her.

"I think his book is good, but I doubt that his plan will work. I only love Sasuke." That was when Naruto walked in. He looked like he hadn't eaten in days and there were very heavy bags under his eyes.

"Hey guys," he yawned. "What ya talking about?" Ino smiled evilly.

"Oh nothing. Just boys and your book." Naruto laughed.

"Don't you mean books?" he asked happily. Ino and Sakura's jaws dropped.

"You finished the second book?" they asked simultaneously. Naruto nodded happily.

"It should be published sometime between today and next week. Just look for _Caring: The Second Book of 41 Books of Me_. I guarantee you're gonna love it." Ino regained her composure and asked another question.

"How could you already finish your second book it's only been a month since the first one came out?" she asked incredulously. Naruto laughed again.

"Easy," he exclaimed simply. "I was already writing this one by the time the first copy of book one was put on shelves." Ino began laughing along with Naruto.

"You really are something, aren't you Naruto?" she examined between laughs. Naruto just nodded.

"I guess so…." Naruto slumped over a bit before Ino caught him gently.

"Teuchi can you make Naruto's order to go? He needs to get home for some sleep," Ino explained as Teuchi happily packed Naruto's ramen into a plastic bowl.

"Of course. Just leave his money on the counter." Ino quickly reached into Naruto's pocket and pulled out the money he needed to pay for his meal. She then took his ramen and began to lead him back to his apartment. It was considerably harder than she made it look as Naruto was half asleep.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto's second book was on sail on the Monday of the next week as Naruto had predicted it to be around. Sakura was again one of the first to buy a copy. She knew it would be good and so was one of the many girls and guys camped outside of the bookstore on the night before it was released.

Sakura had to admit that Naruto had done an exceptional job with writing his new book. It was well thought out and included stories she could remember and some that she couldn't. Like the story of their first real mission when Naruto returned to Inari's house just in time to save the day. Or when Naruto was in the Crescent Moon Kingdom and saved the island using a rasengan that was propelled from Michiru's back.

Sakura just couldn't stop reading the book for the next week until she finished it. She was so excited for the next one that she actually asked Naruto when it would be done. This just caused Naruto to smirk and receive a super powered punch to the face and stomach.

The book had been bought by millions and it gained great reviews from even Jiraiya. Naruto didn't exactly count his good review as a good thing though. He still like that his teacher liked his stories. Now all he had to do was write 39 more and win Sakura's heart in the end of it. He, again, was gonna need a lot of headache medicine.

\(O.O)/

That's the end of chapter two. I hoped you enjoyed it. I tried to make it better than the last. I'm really excited for how this book will turn out, so I'm just so happy to write it. Please review and please no flames. I do except friendly advice though.


	3. Book Three: Strength

This is chapter three of 41 Books of Me. I, 41 Books of Me, am happy to bring you this story. I will try to make it my best story ever. I hope you enjoy this humble tale. P.S. You still get paid when you're on sick leave.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 3: Strength

_I am often known as a demon child. My friends think of me as a much different person. My close friends, though, think of me as I truly am. A strong sturdy person anyone can lean on. I try to be strong for everyone. That way I don't have to worry about anyone being unhappy._

_This is not my only strength. I am strong emotionally. I used to be beaten by the villagers and shinobi I passed by. That time has long past, but I had the emotional strength to stand back up after being beaten and to keep looking life and fear in the eye and just laugh as they turn away scared. Life really is just a big game to me._

_Finally, I am strong in physicality. I know many jutsu and I have good muscles on my body. I have defeated many enemies. I don't think this is true physical strength though. True physical strength is knowing when to use it and when to hold back. Especially when sparring with friends. I've made that mistake before._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was sleeping late into the afternoon. He had been up all night writing that page of the third book and he was then almost done with it. All he had to do was write a few more chapters and he would be done.

He slept peacefully until there was a loud knock on his door. He slowly got up and walked to the door. He was only wearing boxers like the last time he had been interrupted from his sleeping. He opened the door before the person could knock again and looked up to see who it was. He was surprised to see the hokage herself, Tsunade, at his doorway.

"Hey brat," she greeted as she walked into his apartment. "I came to check on how you're doing. Plus I have some information for you." Naruto's attention was immediately caught.

"What kind of information?" he asked slyly. Tsunade just laughed at Naruto's curious nature.

"Go throw some clothes on and I'll tell you." Naruto looked down at himself, blushed, and quickly rushed into the bathroom with clean clothes. Tsunade began laughing again and soon Naruto was back and fully clothed. "Okay Naruto. Here's the news. I've put you on sick leave as a shinobi until you finish those books."

"WHAT?!" Naruto yelled in anguish.

"You heard me! Besides, I have my reasons. One, you aren't getting enough sleep to be at full strength. Two, you wouldn't be able to focus on your work with those books and that scheme of yours. Three, I felt like it and had the authority. Now go back to bed. I need you to finish all of those books soon. I can't lose one of my best ninja." With all of that said, Tsunade left Naruto's apartment and was on her way back to the her office.

Naruto just sighed and laid back down in bed. This was going to be a boring few months or years. At least he had friends he could talk to. He was going to really need his friends. And his strength, for that matter.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura and Ino were walking down the street together when a bored and slightly depressed Naruto came towards them. The girls looked at him questioningly before Sakura spoke up.

"Hey, Naruto. What's wrong?" she asked with a slightly worried voice. Naruto just looked up with tears in his eyes.

"My plan backfired. I've been put on sick leave until I finish my books." The girls sweat dropped while Naruto began crying. Sakura soon was hugging Naruto gently while he cried.

"Hey it's okay," she comforted him. "You'll still be getting paid. You just have to write those books faster than you did before. That way you can get back into missions. Maybe you could use shadow clones." Naruto began running to his house.

"Thanks Sakura-chan! You've really helped me!" he yelled back as he rushed for his house. Sakura had an evil glint in her eye.

"That's how you manipulate Naruto into writing your favorite series faster," she snickered to Ino.

"That's cruel," Ino scolded, "but clever." Both girls soon began laughing.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat at home eating ramen. He was almost finished with his newest book. He was in his living room on the couch and he had the T.V. on. He had a stupid show on. He hadn't even paid enough attention to it to catch the name of it.

He had been thinking about his master plan to win Sakura over for the whole day. He had to wonder if she even liked his books at all. He didn't actually have any proof. The day Sakura set him down at his desk could have just been her leaving him in a place that was as good as any. He just wasn't sure and he was getting scared for the safety of his plan and his friendship with Sakura.

He decided he would ask Ino about it in the morning. Her and Sakura had been talking a lot. Maybe she could help him win Sakura over. Oh well, it was time for bed anyway. Naruto slowly got up, turned off the T.V., put his bowl in the sink, stripped to his boxers, and went to bed.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Ino woke up to an obnoxious tapping and a series of quiet calls. When she came to, she realized that someone was tapping on her window. She looked out to see Naruto tapping on her window with a sign that said, "Can we go to Icharaku so I can talk to you?"

Ino sighed and pointed for Naruto to look away as she changed. He got the message and turned away quickly. Ino kept an eye on Naruto the whole time she was changing and, when she finished, opened the window. She then stepped out of the window and Naruto and she were off.

When they arrived at Icharaku, they immediately ordered their meals and began talking.

"So how are your books coming along?" Ino asked curiously. Naruto smiled.

"I'm almost done with book number three. I just have a few more pages to write up and I'm finished with it." Ino laughed at how happy Naruto sounded. "I need to ask you something though. It's really important, Ino." Ino's curiosity was peaked.

"Proceed," she instructed.

"Well, I've been thinking about my plan. I need to know if Sakura likes the books so that I know if it's working," he explained. Ino smiled.

"You really do love her if you're willing to do all this just for her. Wish someone could be that romantic towards me, but I guess I just haven't found the guy yet." Naruto looked at her expectantly. "Oh right. Yeah she loves them. She has both of the first books and she was constantly carrying at least one of them around with her. She's fanatic about them. Trust me. Your plan is working well. She'll be kissing your feet by the end of this series." Naruto frowned.

"I don't want her worshipping me. I want her to love me. That's it. I'm not the kind of person to take advantage of someone who is groveling up to me. I don't want sacrifices and alters. I want love and caring. I want her to love me because of the me that she's learning about in the books, not because she likes the books." Ino looked surprised at Naruto's strong words.

"Naruto, it takes a very strong man to say words like that. However, you're gonna have to act them out to show that you're truly strong." That was when his writer's block was lifted.

"Teuchi I have to go. Can I get that in a plastic bowl?" Naruto asked quickly. Teuchi just nodded and poured the noodles into the plastic bowl Naruto requested. "Thanks." Naruto then left his money on the counter and rushed home to write.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_Today I was talking to my friend. You see this whole book series is being written so that I can win the love of a girl. Now you see, my friend assured me that the girl loved the book series and that she would be "groveling at my feet" when I finished it. That's not what I want. I told my friend that and she just turned to me and said, "Naruto, it takes a very strong man to say words like that. However, you're gonna have to act them out to show that you're truly strong."_

_Those words inspired me. I now know that I'm strong. I'm just not as strong as I think. I'm gonna have to be much stronger to be truly strong. Hopefully I can become truly strong like I want. I just have to learn to act out my words and keep my promises. That's right, Teme. Where ever you are out there, I have to get you back. Then my promises will be complete and I'll be one step closer to being truly strong._

With that final paragraph written, Naruto put his story in an envelope and sent it to his publisher. He was happy and knew that someday, he would keep all of his promises and do what he says he will. He'll be strong for everyone and he'll gain the true strength he wants to find.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sasuke sat in Orochimaru's hideout. His training for the day was over and he didn't have any chores for the day so he was sitting in his room reading. He was reading a very special book though. It was Naruto's third book _Strength_. He had been reading it for a while now. He found it amusing to see how Naruto was doing in Konoha. That didn't mean he was going to return. He was still going to kill his brother and avenge his clan no matter what.

As Sasuke reached the last few sentences, he smirked. The dobe really believed he was going to get him to come back. That was nonsense. Still Sasuke had to laugh and just think about how stupid Naruto was.

'Go ahead, Dobe,' he thougt. 'Come and get me.'

Sasuke then closed the book and went to sleep.

\(O.O)/

Well that's the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope I got deep enough for all you readers out there who wanted me to get deeper. Yeah that sounds wrong. Don't think like I am thinking! Anyway, please review and please no flames.


	4. Book Four: Determination

This is book 4 of 41 Books of Me. I hope you enjoy and I'll make sure to just keep getting better.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 4: Determination

_I don't think I've ever given up on anything. I haven't given up on this plan have I? Exactly my point. I just have very great determination. I don't want to give up and I don't want to let my friends down. That's probably what pushes me to not give up._

_I didn't have any friends as a young child. When I entered the academy, I gained my first friends. I was so happy that I just wanted to make sure I never lost them. That's probably where my determination sprouted from. Well, I can definitely thank that determination for getting me as far as it has._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was sitting in piles of money. He didn't know what to do with all of it. He had only published three books and yet somehow he had ended up as a millionaire. He chose not to question it. What he was going to question was, again, what he was going to do with all of it. He better ask someone like Teuchi. He was a wise old man who didn't have addictions with gambling or porn. He was trustworthy.

Naruto then stood up, wiped the leftover bills that were stuck to him off and left his apartment. He made sure the door was locked and then made his way to Icharaku Ramen. When he arrived there he sat down and ordered his usual. 20 bowls of miso ramen. While Teuchi was cooking, Naruto decided to ask his question.

"Hey gramps, with all the books that have been sold, I've gotten a lot of money. I think it was 2,000,000 yen." Teuchi began choking on thin air.

"2,000,000 yen?!" he asked absurdly.

"Yeah I think so," Naruto replied distractedly. "Anyway, I need help. I don't know what to do with it." Teuchi smiled. The boy made a good decision in who he chose to ask for money advice.

"I say split the 2,000,000 into thirds. One third goes to an account you can use later, one third goes to the account you're using now, and the last third goes to charity. That's what I think anyway." Naruto smiled at the wisdom of the ramen stand owner.

"Thanks gramps!" he said happily. Naruto then waited for his ramen and ate it when it arrived.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto had all of his money in a backpack. He was walking to the bank. He was going to follow Teuchi idea and be smart with his money. He arrived at the bank quickly and immediately opened a new account. He put a third of the money in that account and then put the second third in his normal account. He then left for the Konoha chapel.

When he arrived, he walked in to find a wedding and immediately just sat down to avoid attention. At the end of the wedding he finally stood up. He found it respectful to give the bride and groom a congratulations, but stepped away quickly after questions of his presence. He quickly dropped his donation in the basket for donations and left. That had been awkward. He then began to walk home.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura and Ino had been sitting at Sakura's house talking. Ino had decided to bring up Naruto's questions about Sakura's interest in his books and Sakura blushed when Ino told her about Naruto's little speech about her and love.

"It was so adorable to watch his eyes sparkle as he spoke of only accepting your love if you truly loved him. He really likes you. You know that right?" Sakura's blush had only grown.

"Yeah…I know," she whispered in response to Ino's question. Ino just laughed at Sakura's timid nature. Sakura just blushed some more and gently hit Ino in the arm.

An alarm suddenly went off throughout the whole village. Ino and Sakura immediately jumped off and were off. They didn't have to ask what was happening when they looked up and saw a giant wave with Kisame and Itachi riding on it heading towards the village. The akatsuki were coming for Naruto again.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto had been sitting at his desk when the alarm went off. He didn't care if he was on sick leave. He was going to protect the village. He quickly grabbed his ninja gear and was out the front door. Then he saw the giant wave with Kisame and Itachi on top. He growled. The akatsuki team that was after him had finally returned it seemed.

Naruto bolted for the main gate of the village. He had to protect the village. He looked up at his destination again. The wave was gone but Kisame and Itachi were rushing for the group of shinobi and villagers at the gate. Naruto quickly sped up his pace with chakra.

'Please let me get there in time,' he thought.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

A hail of Itachi clones and Kisame water clones rained down on the village as Sakura and Ino arrived at the main gate. Two of the clones immediately attacked them, but didn't last long against Sakura and Ino's combined strength.

The village was in chaos. Villagers were scattering for the safety of the hokage monument, making it hard for shinobi to fight. If the people didn't get out soon, everyone would be slaughtered. Then Sakura saw Tsunade on top of the nearest building.

"PEOPLE!" she yelled to the non-shinobi. "LEAVE IMMEDIATELY AND AVOID ALL SHINOBI IN THE PROCESS! WE CAN'T FIGHT WITH ALL OF YOU HERE!" Sakura had never seen such straight lines of scared people running away in her life. It was like prisoners on a chain. Sakura looked up and got scared. There was a Kisame water cloan sneaking up on Tsunade. Sakura began to yell out, but stopped when Tsunade turned around suddenly and kicked it into a puddle.

Sakura sighed in relief and began to fight. It was going to be a long day.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto raced for the battlefield. He had to make it in time. He just had to. It was his job to protect the village and he would be damned if he didn't do it. Finally, the fight came into his line of vision and he jumped into the fray. All he had to do was find Itachi and Kisame and he could end all of this.

He scanned the battlefield, taking out 5 Kisame water clones and 3 Itachi clones in the process. He finally spotted them sitting on top of the main gate watching the battle. He jumped into action and took off for their roost. He was noticed by Kisame who informed Itachi. Itachi just smirked and threw a kunai. Naruto followed its path and gasped when he realized it was heading for Sakura.

With a large burst of chakra, he flew towards Sakura. He was determined to save her. He wasn't going to let his friends get killed because the akatsuki were after him. Especially not Sakura. He sped up his pace again with another burst of chakra. He was almost there. Just a few more inches and…Naruto felt a sharp pain in his sides and coughed up blood. The kunai had gone straight through him. It luckily missed Sakura though.

He hit the ground soon after the attack hit him. He slowly stood back up and formed a rasengan. He didn't hold back though as Kyuubi chakra enhanced the small sphere to 5 times its normal size. He flew straight at the two and Kisame raised his sword to block and absorb the chakra. Naruto hit Kisame's blade straight on, but the rasengan didn't disappear. Instead, Kisame's sword was thrown away by the rasengan and Kisame was hit in the stomach. He joined his sword miles away soon after.

Itachi looked towards Naruto and realized the situation. He quickly dispersed his clones and destroyed all of Kisame's water clones and was off to find the real Kisame. Naruto watched him go; the Kyuubi chakra slowly draining from him and then collapsed in a heap on top of the main gate.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura raced for Naruto. She quickly checked him over when she got to him and gasped. His stomach was torn up and releasing acid into his body and the Kyuubi wasn't healing fast enough to do much help. Sakura immediately began healing him.

Her chakra with the Kyuubi's chakra sped up the process of healing Naruto considerably compared to how fast the Kyuubi was going and he was soon stable for the time being. Sakura carefully picked Naruto up and carried him to the hospital to be treated.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto woke up in the hospital and slowly sat up. He felt sore from not moving for so long and groaned quietly to himself. He then looked around the room. It was empty of people besides him. He then noticed something on his bedside table. He picked the item up and it turned out to be _Determination_. He found a note attached to the envelope it was held in.

_Get better soon Naruto and make sure you finish the book. It's a good series and I like it. I'm looking forward to the next book so you better finish it fast._

_-Sakura_

Naruto smiled. Ino was right. Sakura really did like his books. That gave him the motivation to begin writing on his book as soon as he got home. That was sooner than he thought as Tsunade deemed him fit to leave later that day and he was discharged from the hospital.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_My determination never ceases to amaze me. It drives me to protect my friends, defeat enemies and survive a deadly wound all in the same day. I was so amazed to find that I could take such a serious wound to protect my friend and still get back up to beat up some bad guys. I took a kunai straight through my right side into my stomach and out my left side and then stood up, formed a giant rasengan and defeated Kisame with one blow. I didn't even have to touch Itachi for him to know to leave._

_I was so determined to protect my friend, Her, that I did all that. All of this just for one girl. It amazes me too really. It just proves that determination can get you anything. I know for sure that my plan will work now and I'm gonna finish this series and win her love if it's the last thing I do._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Ino smiled happily as she finished Naruto's fourth book. He really was amazing. He did all of that just for Sakura and acted like it was nothing. She would never understand how deep that boy's love for Sakura was and she chose not to. It wasn't something she needed to know. She just hoped it didn't get him hurt. She shook the thought off though. Naruto wouldn't be hurt. This plan was going to work and him and Sakura were going to get together. It was just to good of a plan to fail and Ino knew it was working.

\(O.O)/

That's the end of it. Hopefully the fight wasn't too bad. I'm not that good with fight scenes. I hope you liked this book. Please review and please no flames.


	5. Book Five: Immaturity

Here's book 5! Oh yeah!

I don't own Naruto

41 Books of Me

Book 5: Immaturity

_One thing you can tell about me when you see me in public is that I'm not very mature. Really I'm not that mature. I kid around, I ask one girl on dates all the time (and I mean __**ONE**__ girl, I only chase her), I never give up. Yeah, I'm just so very childish._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat at his desk. He had serious writer's block. Immaturity was a hard topic to write about. Especially when talking about yourself. He slowly walked away from his desk and locked the door. He needed a break and decided that talking to Ino would help him.

Naruto arrived at Ino's house slowly after leaving and knocked on her door before waiting patiently. Ino's mother walked out and greeted Naruto kindly. Naruto politely said hello and asked if Ino was home. He was pointed in the direction of Sakura's house and said goodbye before leaving for his new destination.

He arrived there quickly and again waited patiently after he knocked on the door. Sakura answered the door and happily let him in. Naruto immediately went to the living room and sat next to Ino on the couch. She turned to him with a curious glint in her eye.

"I thought you were going to be at home all day writing," she stated matter-of-factly. Naruto growled jokingly at her.

"I've got writer's block. It's hard to write about immaturity. Especially your own." Naruto and Ino laughed together. Sakura then joined in.

"That surprises me considering it's you," she joked. Naruto and Ino's laughter grew with hers. They all laughed for a while before everyone calmed down and began talking again.

"So when did you decide to take a break?" Ino asked. Naruto smiled.

"About 15 minutes ago." Sakura looked confused.

"15 minutes? My house is about 5 minutes from your apartment." Naruto just smiled again.

"I stopped by Ino's house before being sent over here by her mother." Ino and Sakura nodded in understanding.

"Well how are we supposed to help?" Ino asked. Naruto just blinked at her and shrugged.

"I'm not sure," he laughed casually. Sakura and Ino sweat dropped. "I just thought you could help since you helped with all the others."

Sakura and Ino laughed. Sakura then looked at Naruto and winked.

"You're gonna be famous someday," as she said this she put her hands into the air and moved them away from each other as in showing a sign with his name in lights. Naruto just laughed.

"Who says I'm not famous now?" Ino and Sakura looked at him confused.

"I meant you not your books." Naruto nodded.

"Same." Sakura gave him a small slap.

"Stop talking in circles!" Naruto laughed again.

"I'm famous because of my haters. I have so many that it's like a fan base." (That's right Grimjaw. I don't take flames. If you actually read it, you would appreciate the good grammar and would know that I DON'T TAKE FLAMES!) Ino and Sakura stared at him like he had grown a second head.

"You're so immature," Ino muttered. An imaginary light bulb suddenly went on over Naruto's head.

"You're right!" he screamed in excitement before taking off for his apartment. Ino and Sakura looked after him, then at each other, then after him again and finally just shrugged and got back to talking.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I realize my immaturity in a lot of the things I say and do. I laugh at perverted jokes, I eat things I shouldn't, I whine. I'm almost hopeless in the adult world. This is sadly only proved by a lot of the things I say._

_Today I was talking with my friends Ino and Sakura. (I will not give last names so that no fan girls try to kill them when I say that one of them is Her.) Sakura made a funny comment about me being famous in the future. I laughed at that and told her that I already was. I got some strange looks and an explanation that she didn't mean with my books and I laughed again. I then explained that I meant right now without the books. Think about it. A lot of people in the village hate me. So many in fact, that it's almost like a giant group of fans. I therefore imply the comment, "I'm famous for my haters." That's right. Just keep hating. It'll only make me more famous._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat at home laughing at how childish he was. Of course he would tell everyone that hated him to "Just keep hating." It was just like him. He was just happy to be stupid and childish. It made hard situations better and helped to cheer others up.

Naruto then decided to start training. He left his apartment and was soon at the training field. He decided to practice his Rasen-shuriken. (He doesn't master it until his sage training, but he does have it by the time he beats Kakuzu.) He knew he would need to head out into the forest to practice.  
He grabbed his soldier pills and was off on his way to the forest with a signed note he always had. It was signed by Tsunade and said that he had permission to step outside the village to train considering his techniques were too "dangerous to be kept inside the village". Naruto didn't care what she said. He was going to keep practicing it. He didn't even care how bad it hurt his arm.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was looking for Naruto. She checked everywhere. He wasn't at his house, Icharaku, Ino's house, or even the training grounds. She was finally going to the front gates to ask the guards if they had seen the boy leaving for a mission or "rasengan training" as she liked to call Naruto's training sessions with the rasengan and rasengan variations.

She finally reached the gate and arrived at the guard house. The guards smiled politely at her and asked her what she needed.

"I was wondering if Naruto left the village. I needed to talk to him." The guards nodded and pointed the way Naruto had gone. Sakura quickly thanked them and was off.

It didn't take her long to find Naruto. He was in extreme focus. There was a rasen-shuriken held in his right hand, being created by two shadow clones. The rasen-shuriken was coming along nicely when it all went wrong.

Naruto's eyes bulged in horrible pain and he let out a pained yelp. Blood exploded from the elbow of his right arm. Most of his skin was still intact though. Sakura sighed in relief of that. She then jumped out to help. His clones and rasen-shuriken had disappeared when his arm basically exploded. He had hit the ground after the explosion and was now laying there face down.

Sakura began to heal Naruto's arm and scolded him on his lack of self preservation. Naruot just laughed at her before wincing in pain.

"I can't help it Sakura-chan," he admitted before smiling at her. "I just never learn." Sakura shook her head. He really did never learn.

"You're right on that. You really do just never learn." This time Sakura could actually see the imaginary light bulb turn on over Naruto's head. She frowned. "Naruto you're not going home to write your story. You're going to the hospital."

"But Saku-"

"No buts. I'm taking you to the hospital. Come on." Sakura then pulled Naruto to his feet.

"At least grab my book for me. I have to get this down before I forget it," Naruto whined. Sakura sighed in exasperation.

"Fine!" she growled. Naruto smiled at her.

"I'm also gonna need you to write what I tell you to write." Sakura looked at him angrily. "Well my arm is out of condition so…" Sakura shook her head as Naruto unspoken words floated into the air.

"Fine. You're gonna have to make it up to me though." They then headed back in the direction of the village.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I never seem to learn. My friends have told me this and I can only agree with them. They told me my Rasen-shuriken was too dangerous and would hurt me, but I didn't listen. That's why I'm in the hospital with a useless right arm and Her writing the book for me._

_I just don't listen to the warnings of others. Maybe it's because I'm so immature or maybe I'm just deaf every time I get a lecture or a lesson. I'm not sure which, but I can assure you that I have perfect hearing. I hope I can out grow this little quirk of not listening. It'll do me good in the future. Then again, hopefully I just grow out of immaturity._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura slowly placed the last sheet of paper carefully at the bottom of the stack. Naruto had told her that that would be the end of the book and all he needed from her now was to mail it for him. She had agreed considering it wouldn't be that hard and she really didn't mind.

Naruto sat in his hospital bed alone. He was wishing the door and window of his room had locks just in case a fan girl found out, but he knew that there couldn't be locks. He was frankly quite scared. Demons didn't faze him, Akatuski didn't scare him, and rogue ninja were just a nuisance in his mind, but girls of all ages scared the shit out of him. He really needed to get more locks on his door and windows.

\(O.O)/

That's the end of Book 5. Sorry it took so long. I've been really busy. Please review and please no flames.


	6. Book Six: Maturity

I really hope Book 5 wasn't too bad. I know it wasn't my best chapter. I just hope it isn't my worst chapter of all my books. For this books though, I wouldn't mind if that was the worst chapter.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 6: Maturity

_I've covered my immaturity. Now it's time to talk about my maturity. Really, I my maturity depends on the situation. When I'm carefree and happy, my maturity drops and I become very childish, perverted, and stupid. When the situation turns bad though, I'm basically an adult in a teenager's body. I become very clever and I don't let myself fall for traps too easily._

_I can go from a five year old in mentality to a 90 year old in mentality. It all depends on danger for me and my friends. I try to keep everyone safe. If I'm in danger, my maturity doesn't raise much, if my friend is in danger though, I become one of the most mature people in the mission._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto lay in bed thinking. How would he complete this book? This was definitely going to be easier than _Immaturity_, but it still wasn't going to be easy. It seemed like the books were only getting harder to write. He wasn't going to give up though. He never gave up.

He began to think about Sakura. He was really doing this all for her. That's why he started to write these books. To try and prove to her that she did love him. If it didn't work, then he would know for sure that Sakura didn't love him. That was the point, to test if Sakura loved him. He really hoped he was right. He could handle if he was wrong, it was just much more of a happy ending for him if he was.

Naruto sat up and walked over to his desk. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. It was going to be a long night.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_These books I'm writing are for Her. You all know who I'm talking about. The girl I love. I just want to see if she loves me. I'm pretty sure she does. She never acts like it though. I'm mature. If this plan fails and I then know for sure that she doesn't love me, then I'll stop asking her out and pretty much all together stop chasing girls. She's like that one prize that if you don't get it, then you don't want any other. She's better than any prize though and she isn't a toy._

_She's worth all the trouble it takes to write these stories and she's worth dying for. I'd do anything for her and I'd never act like a five year old ever again if she wanted me to. That's just what she means to me. I'd mature in a moment if it meant getting her love. I wouldn't care._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto looked at his clock. It was 3 am. He needed to go on a walk to clear his mind and relax. It would do him well. He began to get dressed and was soon outside locking his door. He began his walk.

Naruto walked past Icharaku and smiled when he thought about getting ramen later today. He walked past the hokage's office and frowned, remembering that he couldn't do any missions. He walked past the academy and got a thoughtful look when he considered seeing Iruka. Naruto had a very memory filled walk.

He sat down at a bench in the park. The scenery was beautiful when there was no one around to disturb him. He kept sitting there until his eyes drooped and he fell asleep on the bench. His dreams were peaceful and he had a large smile on his face for the whole rest of the night.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was walking through the park when she noticed a large group of girls gathered around a bench. Sakura couldn't tell what they were screaming about and she didn't really care. That was until she heard a very familiar male voice start to scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! NOOOOOO! LET ME GO! I'M NOT GOING WITH YOU!" a barely clothed Naruto yelled as he ran out of the mob. He had apparently been ambushed and almost fully unclothed. Sakura sighed.

She ran in front of the girls and punched a large crater in the ground to give her and Naruto time to get away. She then chased after Naruto. She caught up with him and looked over to make sure he wasn't hurt. He seemed fine and so she continued to run.

"Thanks," Naruto sighed in relief. Sakura smiled.

"You wouldn't be able to survive without me would you?" Sakura teased before laughing. Naruto's face turned serious though.

"I guess not," he mumbled thoughtfully. Sakura looked at Naruto worriedly.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. A grin broke out on Naruto's face.

"Nope. I was just thinking." Sakura looked ahead not completely convinced, but set at ease as she had seen nothing in Naruto's eyes that would give bad signals.

Naruto and Sakura had now run into the forest to escape the fan girls. Naruto didn't notice as he was thinking. He really couldn't live without her. He would die in a mission or be killed by fan girls fighting over him. He needed her a lot.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I realize that I truly am mature. I think my immaturity is an act. It keeps the enemy from knowing my true power and lets me have fun. I don't think I would be me without that immaturity being there to hide my maturity until it's needed._

_I realized that today when I was with her. She made a comment. "You wouldn't be able to live without me would you?" she asked. It's true. I wouldn't I don't know how many times she's saved my life. More times than anyone can count I bet. It's hard to imagine life without her. It'd be drab, boring, much more dangerous, and lonely. She's one of my true friends. Yeah I have Granny Tsunade and Pervy Sage (Jiraiya for all of you that don't know), but they're like a mother and father. It is possible to feel lonely even when you have your family._

_I just want to be with her and I feel like I'm maturing and coming to new realizations. I'm weak in mind, but strong in body. I'm a good guy, but I have an evil secret. The Uchiha massacre wasn't Itachi's fault. I asked. I learned how much Itachi loved his family and clan. There's no way that he could have done it just for fun. I know these truths. Because with truth comes pain and with pain comes maturity._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Tsunade was reading Naruto's 6th book. _Maturity_ had just been published and sold. She wanted to check how he was doing on his plan. She had to admit that he was doing well in his writing. Tsunade could also tell that Naruto was getting older. This was the first time she had ever known anything so wise to have come from him.

She smiled. She was doing well at raising him in a way. Hopefully Minato and Kushina would be happy with that. Hopefully she truly was doing the right thing. Hopefully nothing bad happened to the innocent blonde with the demonic powers and dead parents.

\(O.O)/

That's the end. I feel like these are getting worse. Why are you so hard to write? Darn you immaturity and maturity!


	7. Book Seven: Anger

Here we go. I hope you're all enjoying this story. Here comes book 7!

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 7: Anger

_I'm a happy person. I don't usually get angry. When I do though, my friends often get scared, either for their lives or my own. I know they care and they don't want me hurt. I also know that they want to survive to see tomorrow._

_When I get angry, the Kyuubi's chakra leaks out. I can control until a certain point. After the fourth tail appears though…I lose it. I go insane. I'm no longer in control and the Kyuubi begins to appear more in my body than I ever did in it._

_I'm scared that this power will leak out. It's dangerous and who knows how many times I've hurt my friends with it. I hurt her with it. It was a mission to find out about Orochimaru's hideout and I lost it. She ended up with her arm scarred. I feel so guilty._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was taking another early morning walk. He was thinking about what to write in his book. He definitely couldn't write anymore about the Kyuubi. It could get him in trouble. He didn't even care about the law anymore. Mostly everyone knew anyway.

Naruto found a bench and sat down. The village was peaceful at this time. It made it easy for him to think. He needed somewhere else to go with this. Things that make him angry would be perfect. He could use that for sure.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura and Ino sat in Ino's room talking. Ino had been warning Sakura against her evil plan. It wasn't working.

"I'm gonna do it Ino. If it'll make him stop writing these then I'll do it. I can tell him later that I don't actually want him. I just have to tell him that I love him." Ino shook her head.

"He won't accept your love unless it's real. That's what he said. He's not going to go against that," Ino explained. Sakura sighed in exasperation.

"Talk is cheap. He'll go for it. It'll work." Sakura then stood up and began to leave. Ino followed her.

"If his plan works and you do fall for him then you're going to regret this. It's only going to hurt the both of you. You're only going to lose his trust!" Ino yelled after Sakura as she walked out of Ino's house. Who needed advice on a perfect plan anyway?

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto heard a knock on his door. He happily stood up to see what was happening. He hadn't talked to anyone recently and was happy to have company. He opened the door to see Sakura standing there with a slight blush.

"Hey Sakura-chan. What are you doing here? What's up? I haven't talked to anyone in a while." Naruto stopped his almost rant when Sakura gave him a serious, yet embarrassed, look.

"Can I come in?" she asked kindly. Naruto nodded and stepped out of her way. She walked in and Naruto closed the door.

"What do you need to talk to me about? You're never this serious." Sakura's blush grew.

"Well um…I just wanted to say…that….I love you Na-" she was cut off by Naruto opening the door loudly.

"Get out."

"But-"

"Get out!"

"I just-"

"GET OUT NOW!" Sakura quickly ran outside and the door was slammed behind her. She heard Naruto lean against the door and slide down to the floor. She also heard him start to sob before she left. Guilt was written all over her face.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_There are few things that make me angry. I can easily list them. People who threaten my precious people, people who threaten my village, people who give up on themselves and their friends, people who hurt the innocent, and when She tells me she loves me and doesn't mean it. I hate that last one._

_It happened recently actually. I don't know if I can trust Her, but I still want Her. It's wrong, I know. I just love her and she lied to me. I want her to love me and say it, but I want her to mean it. That's it. That's why I have to write these books. They're my only chance of hearing her say and mean that._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was taking a walk. She felt horribly guilty about hurting Naruto. She didn't know it would hurt him that badly. She didn't even think he would see through it. She was walking past Icharaku when she heard Ino's voice yell at her.

"I told you so!" Sakura looked around and saw Ino sitting in Icharaku not even looking at Sakura. Sakura walked over and sat down next to Ino.

"Shut up Pig," Sakura mumbled. Ino laughed.

"Well I did. Did you listen though? No you didn't. You should have. He's a sensitive and kind guy and he doesn't deserve to be tricked and lied to. Especially not by the girl he loves." Sakura sighed. She knew Ino was right. She wished she could take all that had happened back. It had been a week since the incident with Naruto and she hadn't seen him once. He was avoiding her for sure.

"Wait. How did you know about it? I never told you," Sakura asked.

"Naruto told me," Ino answered smugly. Sakura sighed.

"How much of the talk we had did you tell him about and how long does he plan to avoid me?" she asked miserably. She may not have loved him, but he was one of her best friends. She did have to worry about if he would forgive her.

"He knows about all of the talk and he plans to avoid you until you apologize." Sakura gave Ino a confused look.

"How am I supposed to do that? He's avoiding me!" Sakura yelled unhappily.

"He said you should be creative," Ino explained with a humored grin.

"Damn you Naruto Uzumaki," Sakura muttered. Ino laughed.

"You better get started," she said as she took a sip of water.

"You're right!" Sakura was gone in less than a second. Ino laughed heartily.

"You can come out now Naruto. She's gone." Slowly Naruto peeked his head out of the storage closet at the back of the Icharaku booth. He sighed and sat back down next to Ino.

"Phew. Thanks for warning me that you were gonna talk to Sakura. I'm gonna head home now. See ya." Naruto then left Icharaku and began his cautios trek back home, knowing that Sakura could show up any moment. Ino laughed again. Naruto's plan was definitely going to work.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura waited behind the door of Naruto's apartment. She knew he would be coming home eventually. He had to. She stood there with a comically large butterfly net in her hands, a rope wrapped around her waist, and a foldable chair strapped to her back. She was going to get Naruto to listen to her apology, even if it meant kidnapping him.

She then heard the lock turning and the door being opened. She prepared herself and swung the net down on the person entering. She looked up to see Ino alone and looking around confused.

"Ino?! What are you doing here and how did you get a key to Naruto's apartment?!" Sakura asked incredulously. Ino continued to look around.

"I don't have a key. I was just with Naruto but he must have felt your chakra somehow." Sakura's face fell. She missed him by that much? She then pulled the net off of Ino and left. This was going to be harder than she thought.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

For the next month, Sakura chased Naruto around the village. She would hide and wait and pop up when he showed up only to find a confused friend of theirs. She was getting frustrated. He was using the substitution jutsu. This wasn't going to be easy at all.

She was right too. It took Sakura another two weeks to even get close to Naruto. Not even that went well. They were in the park. Naruto was running at the speed of light and Sakura was keeping on his tail. Her net was ready and she wasn't going to leave empty handed this time.

Naruto looked back at her and sped up. Sakura sped up to match his new speed but still couldn't catch up to him. She was going to get him no matter what and Naruto knew she wouldn't give up this time.

The chase went on for two full hours. It went through the whole village and back to the park. Sakura finally caught Naruto when he made as attempt to disappear into a crowd. He was unlucky enough to run into a crowd of fan girls though. Sakura only got him out of the crowd and away by fighting her way in, capturing Naruto, and taking off on the roofs of buildings at a breakneck pace that not even the ninja fan girls could keep up with.

Sakura and Naruto were now in team 7's old training ground. Naruto roped down to the foldable chair Sakura kept strapped to her back and Sakura was standing in front of him with her net resting over her shoulder.

"Now listen up Naruto. I'm sorry that I lied to you and told you I love you. There, now stop avoiding me." Naruto shook his head.

"I'm not gonna accept your apology for two reasons. First, because I know how Ino warned you and you didn't listen because you didn't care and second, because you don't know how much that hurt. The one girl I want to notice me and want me came up to me and lied to me just because she didn't like the idea of me even trying to get a single date. You told me you loved me and we both know that's not true. It hurt so badly. It was like being stabbed with a rusty knife. It hurt so much…" Tears began to slide down Naruto's face and Sakura looked down guiltily. She then walked over to Naruto and cut him loose.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I shouldn't have done that to you and I shouldn't have forced you to listen to a fake apology." She then felt a kiss on her forehead and looked up surprised. All she saw was an empty chair and Naruto standing on a tree limb on the other side of the training field.

"Thanks for letting me go Sakura-chan! Sorry I pulled out that crying act. I just wanted to get out of here. I forgave you after your first apology. Bye!" Naruto was then gone. Sakura's face grew red.

"YOU LITTLE BASTARD! When I get my hands on you…!" Naruto smiled as the threats poured into the air behind him. This was fun.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_You now know that when I get angry, people get put straight. What you don't know is that I'm very forgiving when it comes to Her. It's just hard to stay mad. She's very innocent and often feels guilt after hurting anyone._

_I know She didn't mean to hurt me. She just thought it would make me stop writing these books. She's just not to keen about the plan. I won't give up though. I'll keep fighting. Just to get to hear, "I love you," truthfully come out of her mouth once. I wouldn't care if it was the last time as well as the first. I just want to hear it._

\(O.O)/

Well that's the end of Book 7! I hope you like it. I love all my readers. I get such encouragement from you guys. It's really nice. You guys and gals keep me writing. Please review and please no flames.


	8. Book Eight: Hesitation

Well I got some good reviews. Thanks everyone. I have to say that yeah, _Anger_ did focus on forgiving a lot, but think about it. Naruto has to include that he is forgiving or else he's just Sasuke.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 8: Hesitation

_I know the title of the book is a weird one, but I wanted to talk about how much I hesitate. I hesitate pretty much never. The only time I hesitate is when it comes to Her. She could make me hesitate about anything._

"_I'm gonna go get some ramen."_

"_You shouldn't eat so much ramen. It's not good for you."_

"_Hmmmmm…..I'm still gonna go get some."_

_See? She made me hesitate about ramen. RAMEN! She has that power over me. The power to make me hesitate. Not even my mightiest enemy had that power._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was training with Naruto. They had both gotten stronger but it seemed like Naruto was still the superior of the two. His clever use of attacks always seemed to catch Sakura by surprise. He could use a surprise rasengan to destroy the ground under her just so that she would jump into a trap of Naruto clones.

That didn't necessarily mean that Sakura didn't get her good blows in on Naruto. He was covered in some sizable bruises and a good amount of small cuts. Naruto was strong, but he wasn't invincible.

They finally finished their spar and were both lying in the grass. Sakura was healing her wounds and Naruto just lay there panting and smiling.

"That was fun. We should do this more often. I'm gonna go home now," Naruto said as he stood up.

"Shouldn't you let me heal you first?" Sakura asked in a surprised tone. Naruto stood still.

"Hmmmmmmmmm…..Nah, I'm good. The Kyuubi should fix me up good." Naruto slapped himself mentally. He was doing it again. If anyone else have asked he would have immediately denied it, but Sakura goes and asks and he stops to think about it. He needed to fix that soon. He looked back at Sakura sitting on the ground still healing herself. Then again, maybe he could wait a little longer before he tried to change.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Ino and Sakura were walking together and talking at the park. The conversation was often random and was actually boring considering Naruto was now usually at home and not running around keeping them entertained. As Ino began to think about Naruto, she quickly voiced her thoughts to Sakura.

"You know Naruto would do anything for you without hesitation right?" Ino asked Sakura. Sakura sighed in response.

"Kind of hard to miss that fact," she agreed, slightly annoyed. Ino nodded.

"True, but it's harder to see that he never hesitates about anything…unless you disagree with it." Sakura looked at Ino confused.

"What do you mean by that?" She inquired, a small blush was growing on her face as she turned her head towards Ino.

"You could give him a choice he would always go for one side of and then have you agree with the other side and he'll stop to think about it before either following his own decision or changing his mind to your liking. It'll always work. I swear," Ino explained to the now strawberry faced Sakura.

'She's right,' Sakura thought miserably. 'Why does he have to be so adorably innocent and loyal?'

Ino laughed at Sakura's face after she realized that Ino was right. It was hilarious. She looked like she was in pain but was ready to smile at the same time. It looked like Two-face but with less of a boundary between the two emotions.

"You alright there, Forehead?"Ino asked with a smile. Sakura immediately looked up with a competitive glint in her eyes.

"I'm good. I feel so good in fact, that I'm sure I could easily beat you in a spar, Pig." Ino smirked.

"Bring it on, Pinkie," Ino challenged. Without another word, both girls were racing for the nearest training grounds.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat on the couch in Tsunade's office. He had showed up to get help and opinions from her and she had, luckily, agreed. Their talk had been interrupted several times by ninja from finished missions, but it went smoothly other than that.

"So Granny, what do you think of all that I've gotten written down?" Naruto asked excitedly. He was sitting upside down on the couch so that his head hung off the front and his legs hung over the back. Tsunade looked up at him and sighed.

"First, sit up right, Naruto. I'm already too tired to deal with your childish actions. Second, I think it sounds very good. You're really working hard on these books." Naruto scratched the back of his neck bashfully.

"Thanks Granny. I would like to hope that it's that good." Tsunade smiled at Naruto. When did he grow up? Tsunade laughed to herself. She needed to stop asking that question.

"So Naruto, how does the plan seem to be going?" Tsunade asked curiously. Naruto looked up at her happily.

"It's going well. Sakura apparently really likes the books. Ino says it should work really well." Tsunade looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well you can tell people that it gets my stamp of approval too. I can already see it working with other people. I'm sure it'll work on Sakura." Naruto smiled.

"Thanks Granny."

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto and Sakura were walking in the park. It was a sunny day and a soft breeze was blowing. Many people were outside enjoying the beautiful day. Sakura had been thinking and was now ready to work another plan into action.

"You need to stop writing those books," she stated seriously. "It's like you're trying to manipulate me to love you." Naruto looked at her surprised.

"What do you mean?" he asked confusedly.

"I mean that you're trying to _make _me love you. That's not a good thing to do. It's like throwing penguins off a cliff and telling them to fly. It won't work and it's wrong. It's mean," she explained matter-of-factly. Naruto looked down ashamed.

"I guess you're right…" he trailed off and began to walk home.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat in bed thinking. He was thinking about his books. An idea suddenly popped into his head and he got up to write it down before stopping. Should he really do that? Was it wrong? Was he forcing Sakura into doing something she didn't want to?

His brain suddenly froze. Sakura knew his weakness. She was using it against him now. She was making him hesitate and take her false point of view into consideration. Well Naruto wasn't going to fall for it. Not now. Not ever. He sat down at his desk and began to write.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I've realized how much of a weakness hesitation can be. She used it on me. She gave me her false opinion on the books so that I would stop writing them. I listened like an idiot and hesitated to write this._

_She's using this against me. I won't fall for it though. From this point on, I'll try to never hesitate again. I can't afford to hesitate. It'll only lose me the things I hold most dear to my heart._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura had bought _Hesitation_. She was enjoying it. It was sweet how Naruto always took her opinion into things before doing them. She thought this all the way until the end. He had decided to never hesitate again. Did that mean her opinion wouldn't be taken into account or just that he was going to forever rush in no matter what?

Sakura couldn't tell and was scared for the latter. That could mean things worse than the akatsuki could happen to Naruto. That thought scared Sakura, but she knew she no longer had a say in his life.

\(O.O)/

Pretty sad ending huh? Well there we go. Book eight. This took me awhile. Hesitation was the hardest chapter yet. I'll make sure to add some happy chapters for a while now. Don't worry. I'll make sure to balance the scales of emotion.


	9. Book Nine: Happiness

Well I've heard that _Hesitation_ wasn't that great. I thought so. Crap. I have to work harder!

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 9: Happiness

_I'm a very joyful person. It's hard to miss that quality in me. I just smile a lot. Sometimes I smile just so that others feel happy. I smile genuinely a lot though too. Many people find it hard not to smile around me. I brighten the mood in places I guess._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto, Ino, and Sakura were sitting at Icharaku. They were having a nice peaceful lunch and were enjoying the last sunny day before summer was to come to an end. The sun was shining brightly and the trees seemed to sing with the still new spring.

Ino and Sakura were laughing boisterously at one of Naruto's tales that they believed to be made up. There couldn't be any kekkei genkai that was like the byakugan, but stronger. That would be impossible. Naruto continued to insist that if you went to the curry shop that Lee loved to visit, that they would meet the boy with the kekkei genkai.

"I swear. You just have Lee take you and then ask to meet a boy named Ranmaru. Tell him that Naruto Uzumaki sent you. He should remember me. You can ask him all about it." Sakura and Ino just continued to laugh. "I'm not lying!"

"Okay you win," Sakura admitted defeat. "We'll have Lee take us down there sometime to meet him." Naruto smiled.

"You'd be amazed at how powerful his bloodline is. He can do stuff like see through walls, create illusions, and mess with the byakugan. Not even the byakugan can see through his illusions!" Ino and Sakura's surprise showed on their faces.

"Really?" Ino asked in a stunned voice.

"Yeah," Naruto assured excitedly. Sakura made a doubtful face.

"Sure Naruto. Sure he can." Naruto growled.

"Go ask Neji!" he yelled. Ayame giggled at Naruto's hot headed defense of his honor and mission stories. "Well I'm gonna head home now." Ino and Sakura looked at Naruto confused.

"I have to get some more writing done before I lose too much time." The girls nodded in understanding.

"See ya Naruto," Sakura said as Naruto walked away.

"Yeah. Later, Whiskers," Ino called afterwards. The two girls smiled at how quickly Naruto wanted to get back to his books.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was sitting at his desk writing. He had begun to quickly get ideas for his book as soon as he had entered his small apartment. He was writing quickly and quietly and began to sigh in a lonely tone at how quiet his apartment was. He slowly reached over to a small radio that sat on the lower of the two shelves that were attached to the top of Naruto's desk. He switched it on and smiled as the apartment began to gain life again.

'That's better,' he thought happily. 'Music always seems to make everything brighter and happier.'

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I sometimes get lonely in my small apartment with no one else living with me. It occasionally drops my mood, but I just turn on my radio and I'm soothed. The music flows smoothly, sometimes forcefully out of the little box and it just raises my spirits._

_That's not my only way to help keep myself happy. I also have the chance to see Her almost every day of my life and that always seems to bring a smile to my face. I really enjoy being here. It's fun and I always seem to be in a good mood. I wonder what makes this place so magically happy._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was in a sour mood. She had been working all night at the hospital and had just gotten off at noon that day. She needed some sleep but she couldn't go home until she picked up some groceries like her mother had asked her to.

"Hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto greeted as he came running up beside Sakura. She looked over at him unhappily.

"I'm not in the mood Naruto. I need to get groceries quickly so I can get home and go to sleep." Naruto made a confused face and Sakura giggled.

"Why are you gonna sleep? It's only about noon!" Sakura winced at Naruto's loud voice.

"I had an all-night shift and just got off about 10 minutes ago," she explained tiredly. Naruto was the one to wince this time.

"That's rough," he admitted. Sakura smiled at Naruto's understanding of the situation.

"Thanks for understanding." Naruto nodded before ruffling Sakura's hair playfully.

"Make sure to go home and get some sleep. It'll do you a lot of good." Naruto then walked off.

Sakura watched Naruto walk for about a minute before walking towards the store again. She had a large smile plastered on her face and it was hard to tell that she hadn't had any sleep for the last 24 hours. She couldn't even tell that herself.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Shikamaru was lying on the ground staring at the clouds. It had been a hard week for him. He had three missions and he was downright exhausted. Shikamaru was lying in one of his hidden forest clearings watching the clouds go by. He closed his eyes and was about to fall asleep when he heard footsteps approaching. He sat up quickly to see Naruto walking towards him.

"Hey Shikamaru. How's it going?" Naruto asked casually. Shikamaru sighed.

"It's been a troublesome week," he replied lazily. Naruto just laughed at him.

"So you're exhausted like Sakura-chan I see." Shikamaru smiled.

"Why's she so tired? She can't have it as bad as having four missions in one week," Shikamaru challenged.

"Well she had an almost 24-hour shift at the hospital. She had to work all night and then to noon today." Shikamaru winced.

"She wins. I definitely couldn't have done that if I was a medic." Naruto laughed at his friend's easy surrender. He then lay down opposite of Shikamaru on the ground.

"The sky is really pretty. I see why you like to stare at the clouds so much." Shikamaru laughed for the first time in a good while.

"Yeah. It's really relaxing. If I could, I would lay in this and other clearings for hours on end just staring at the clouds." Naruto looked at Shikamaru with admiration.

"That was beautiful oh great poet in training," Naruto exclaimed. Shikamaru looked up at Naruto.

"How the Hell was that poetry?" Shikamaru basically yelled in response. Naruto broke into a fit of laughter and Shikamaru joined in after about a minute. Naruto then stood up and turned towards Shikamaru.

"I'm gonna head home soon. I hope you feel better." He then walked off as Shikamaru watched. He already felt better.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Kiba sat in the park with Akamaru. He was taking Akamaru for a walk but slightly regretted it when he realized the ratio of dog crap size to dog body size. It was a gruesome job and just by having Akamaru take a dump once he already had three plastic bags full of dog crap tied to his belt. He was feeling down and really needed a friend.

"Kiba! What's got you so down?!" His prayers had been answered? In a way he guessed.

"Nothing. Just trying to think of ways to win Hinata over when she's still trying to get you to notice her," he explained as Naruto sat down beside him.

"What do you mean when she's still trying to get my attention?" Naruto asked, oblivious to the enormous crush the Hyuuga princess held for the boy. Kiba sighed. Naruto really couldn't be this stupid. Could he?

"She likes you idiot. Didn't you notice?" Naruto gave Kiba a look like he had just been told that penguins could fly.

"No. I didn't. That explains a lot." Kiba face palmed. Naruto really was that stupid.

"Well she has this huge crush on you and I'm still trying to get her to like me," Kiba explained. Naruto nodded and wrote something on a small notepad. "Are you really taking notes on this?" Surprised Naruto looked up.

"Oh, no I was just doodling. I'm still listening." He then began to draw again. Kiba sighed and began to tell his situation to his friend again.

"The only reason she even seems to notice me is because I'm on her team." Naruto nodded and continued to draw. He suddenly stopped and yelled out.

"Got it! Okay, here's the plan. You walk up to Hinata and tell her how you feel. See how it goes." Kiba looked at Naruto's little drawing and saw that he had actually drawn what he had said. He then looked to Naruto's honest and innocent face with worry.

"A-are you s-sure?" he asked weakly before Naruto nodded. Kiba then nodded back and got Akamaru. "Okay. Thanks Naruto. I'm gonna go home to let Akamaru rest and then I'll go tell her. Thanks." Naruto nodded again.

"No problem. Good luck Kiba." With that said Kiba was gone and Naruto stood up to leave.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura had gathered all of the Konoha 11 and their still living senseis (this included all but Asuma (R.I.P. Asuma-sensei)). She had even gotten Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune to come to the little meeting. When everyone had arrived, she walked to the front of the room and hit softly (for her strength) on the table. Everyone immediately turned to look at her.

"Okay everyone. Today we're meeting to talk about Naruto's birthday. It's coming up soon and he deserves to have the happiest one yet. For this past month, he's been helping all of us. He helped me after a tiring all night shift at the hospital, he helped Shikamaru relax after a week of missions, he helped Kiba build up the courage to ask out Hinata, and he even helped Hinata get over him before Kiba got there." Kiba looked to Hinata with surprise and confusion on his face and everyone laughed except for him. When the laughter died down, Sakura continued. "Can't you see? He's been helping us a lot and making us happy. Now it's our turn to make him happy. It's the least we can do." There was a murmur of agreement and then everyone turned back to Sakura.

"Each of you has been assigned to a job that will be told to you by Kakashi. Now the theme of the party is traveling the world in honor of his long trip. Now he's turning 17 so I don't want to see any little kid gifts and no perverted gifts from either of you. Got it?" She was staring Jiraiya and Kakashi down and both nodded nervously. "Good. Now Naruto's birthday is next week. All of you go and gather supplies and on his birthday I'll make sure to keep him away from his apartment while it's being decorated. If you think that's unfair, think of this. Most of the money you're all using is mine. Now go!" The door of the room was opened and without another word, all of the ninja scattered.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

It was coming up. Naruto's birthday was tomorrow and he knew it. He sat in bed thinking about it. He didn't expect to get much. Maybe some more kunai from Kakashi, some soldier pills from Tsunade and Shizune, and a perverted book from Pervy-Sage. That's all he expected. It was, after all, also the day the Kyuubi was "killed". There were better things to do than get him a present. Going to the festival was a good example.

'At least my apartment no longer gets bombarded with bricks and stuff. Now I'm just alone,' Naruto thought. It was a depressing thought to go to sleep on but he knew he needed to rest just in case there were some attacks.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto awoke with a start to rude knocking on his door. He looked at his clock to see that it was 6 in the morning. Whoever was out there was gonna get it. He grabbed his pants and a T-shirt and quickly opened the door. He was about to yell when he stopped himself, seeing that it was Sakura. Naruto sighed in exasperation instead.

"What is it Sakura-chan?" he asked tiredly. Sakura giggled at his slightly annoyed demeanor.

"Go put your jacket on. You're coming with me to the festival," she declared happily. Naruto gagged.

"I'm not welcome there!" he protested. Sakura didn't listen and began to push him in and put his jacket on. She then started to pull him to the festival.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Kakashi silently led everyone through a window at the back of Naruto's apartment as Sakura pulled Naruto out. He collected the presents and set them on the coffee table and then proceeded to conduct everyone on what goes where and who does what.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto and Sakura were having a good time at the festival. They had visited several games. Naruto had somehow won Sakura a fish at the kingyo sukui booth (the game with the paper scoopers and the tank of goldfish) and had stopped to buy her some goldfish food before they went anywhere else.

They were walking and having a good time when Kakashi's voice squawked through her earpiece. Sakura quickly excused herself to the restroom and hurried to the top of a random building.

"What is it Kakashi?" she asked urgently.

"The party's ready," Kakashi happily supplied for his answer. Sakura checked her watch to see that it was 6 o'clock sharp. The night was still young but she was late for getting Naruto to the party.

'I must have been having too good of a time to notice,' she thought carelessly. She quickly returned to Naruto, took her goldfish, which she named Senshi (warrior in Japanese), and began to drag Naruto by the arm to his apartment.

When they arrived, the apartment was pitch-black and Naruto turned on the lights. Everyone quickly jumped from hiding spots and yelled, "SURPRISE!" To say that Naruto was surprised was an understatement. He feinted and had to be dragged in. The party started when Naruto came to.

"I can't believe you guys remembered!" Naruto yelled out to Shikamaru, Kiba, Sakura, and Choji.

"How could we forget?!" Kiba screamed back. Shikamaru covered his ears.

"You two are too troublesome and loud," he muttered before walking away to talk to "calmer" people.

"When did you guys get the time to do all of this?" he asked with an air of joy surrounding him.

"Well we've been buying all the supplies and gifts for the last week or so and the place was decorated while I took you to the festival," Sakura happily responded. Choji chuckled.

"It was all Sakura's idea. She's the one that reminded most of us and even paid for most of this," he chimed into the conversation. Naruto looked at Sakura surprised.

"Really?" Sakura hesitated and a blush graced her face.

"Yeah," she finally answered, her face now matching her hair.

"Thanks!" Naruto yelled as he pulled Sakura into a hug. "You're so awesome!" Sakura smiled.

"Well you're my best friend though so…" she trailed off. Naruto's smile twitched a little at this but nobody noticed. The Kyuubi however was complaining at Naruto's wails inside his head.

'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO!' Naruto cried. 'I've been friend zoned!'

Naruto let go and stepped back from Sakura. Sakura swore that she would never tell anyone but Ino how cold she felt after he let go. They then smiled and began to talk again.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

The party went by quickly and it was soon around midnight. Naruto sat at his desk thinking about what to write and looking at all the presents he had received. It was nice to know that more people than he thought actually cared for him.

From Ino he had received a pocket mirror (he didn't expect to use it any time soon other than for training). Shikamaru and Choji had worked together to buy him some chakra training equipment so that he could keep even more control of his chakra for times when he needed it most like when using chakra infused weapons and such.

Hinata and Kiba had also worked together to get him a box full of Icharaku coupons (enough to actually last him a month). Shino had gotten Naruto a booklet that gave helpful tips on how to not forget things. He was obviously still sore that Naruto forgot about him over his training trip. Kurenai had gotten him an invitation that he could use anytime to get genjutsu training from her.

Neji had gotten Naruto a disguise kit like the secret one he owned that he could use whenever he wanted to avoid Guy and Lee and instructed Naruto to only open it in private so that no one knew the contents. Tenten had gotten Naruto a $10 off coupon for her family's weapon store. Guy and Lee had teamed up to use their money to buy the supplies for a handmade green jumpsuit like theirs. Naruto liked the thought that was put into it but secretly planned to never wear it.

Tsunade gave Naruto a slip of paper that she said she would keep and hole-punch every time he ended up in the hospital. She explained that it was only good for 50 uses (there were little numbers that counted up to fifty on the card) and that each number was good for a free hospital treatment. Jiraiya grudgingly obeyed Sakura's orders about perverted gifts and got Naruto a small booklet that he wrote himself that included tips about being an author. Shizune had gotten Naruto a messenger hawk that he could summon and use during emergencies.

Kakashi had gotten Naruto two full scrolls full of new jutsus he could learn. Finally, Sakura gave Naruto the best gift he could ask for. She thanked him for every time he ever saved her and all the nice things he did for her and gave Naruto a kiss on the cheek. That was when people started to leave. Naruto had completely zoned out after the kiss and people knew he wouldn't snap out of it for a while.

Naruto smiled to himself. This was the best birthday for him yet.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I really am pretty much always happy. I just small and appreciate all the small things people do for me. The big things are always very important and all that but the small things are more done behind the scenes and they mean more to me. They truly mean that the people that do them for me care._

_Today, October 10__th__, was truly the best birthday I've ever had. Well it has been so far anyway. It's all thanks to one person, Her. She gave me the best present ever. A kiss on the cheek and a thank you for everything I've ever done for her. She really does care about all that stuff. I've never been so happy in my life._

\(O.O)/

Well that's the end of book 9. Sorry that it took so long. It's a really long chapter for my chapters though. I haven't really had too much time to update and I'm gonna have even less with a CYT (Christian Youth Theatre) show coming up. That's if I make it in the cast anyway. Wish me luck. The cast list will be up soon. Including this conclusion, the introduction, the title, and the chapter title, this story was 14 pages long on Microsoft Word. Whoo! I'm definitely getting better. I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter.


	10. Book Ten: Clumsiness

I got so many happy reviews from all of you. I'm so glad you all liked the last chapter. I'm gonna keep working hard so that all of these chapters are good enough for reviews like those.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 10: Clumsiness

_I'm extremely clumsy. I often try to do something and accidentally mess it up. That's just how I work. I always accomplish what I'm trying to do. It takes me longer than everyone else, but I get it. I can only think of one time that it didn't take me longer. That was with the rasengan._

_I was still very clumsy in learning the rasengan. I had to use a shadow clone to help me, unlike my teacher Jiraiya who could do it one handed. I did however mast the rasengan in only a week. It was my finest accomplishment._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was walking down the street. He was talking to Ino and enjoying a crisp fall day. It was beautiful as all trees were turning red, brown, and orange and the sun was shining bright. Flowers were starting to die as to prepare for winter, but most of them were still alive and blossoming.

"The new book is coming along really well. Thanks for asking," Naruto said as he turned his head towards her for a second. This sadly caused him to trip and fall face first into the ground. He grunted in slight pain and looked back to see what he tripped on only to see his own feet.

"Naruto you should be more careful. You tripped on your own feet for crying out loud!" Ino scolded him. Naruto just sat on the ground dazed and confused.

"Um….okay," he finally responded as he slowly stood up. They then continued their walk. Unbeknownst to them though, a shadow in an alley snickered and put a ninja wire back into his pocket.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

"Naruto, you're getting really clumsy," Sakura muttered annoyed. Naruto just looked away.

"No I'm not," he defended through a black eye, burnt hand, and cut up back.

"You've tripped into a pole and given yourself a black eye, twice now you've severly burnt your hand by spilling ramen, and you even managed to drop a bunch of kunai and fall back onto them," she hissed. Tears began to leak from Naruto's eyes.

"What did I do to deserve this?" he asked in a depressed tone. Sakura and Naruto were sitting in Sakura's living room. She was patching up all of his injuries with healing chakra but quickly stopped to swat Naruto in the back of the head.

"It's because you're so clumsy!" she answered angrily. Naruto's tears just continued to pour out.

"It's not my fault. I swear something tripped me into the pole and kunai and pulled the burning ramen onto my hand!" he defended yet again. Sakura huffed, but began to set up plans to catch this person who was hurting her Naruto-kun.

'DAMN IT!' she thought suddenly. 'Why do I keep thinking of him as my Naruto-kun? He's my friend Naruto. That's it.' She then continued her planning.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

A young boy watched from the window and snickered. His plan was working. All he had to do was slowly weaken Naruto until he would be able to win against him.

'Sorry boss,' he thought innocently. 'I just want to earn more respect from my friends.' He then quietly slunk away from the window.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was walking in the park when he suddenly tripped and heard a whizzing sound coming towards him.

"Not again," he muttered as he popped into a handstand and dodged four kunai that landed right where he used to be lying. The pranks were getting worse and now he was sure that it wasn't him being clumsy that was causing him to get hurt. He landed on his feet and began walking again. Whoever was doing this was going to get it.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura had seen the whole thing from her perch in a tree; she now knew who the culprit was. All she had to do was catch him and show that it was him to Naruto and this was all over.

'I finally get to be Naruto-kun's savior,' Sakura thought with a dreamy look in her eye. She then shook her head and started to berate herself mentally. 'Naruto is a friend. You feel nothing but friendship for him. That's it.'

"**Keep telling yourself that, Pinkie," **a voice argued. Sakura sighed in exasperation.

'Oh dear lord not you again,' she whispered into her thoughts. The voice however heard her.

"**That's right. I'm back. Your inner self is back to correct your incorrect thoughts!" **Inner Sakura boasted self righteously.** "You like Naruto and I've come back to prove that to you. If you don't admit it yourself then I will."** Sakura started to come up with an argument when the figure that had been attacking Naruto dropped in front of her.

"I'm sorry but I can't have you telling boss that it's me." He then quickly chopped the back of Sakura's neck. He then put her over his shoulder as he jumped away into the forest. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you. I'm only doing this so I can beat the boss.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I've come to learn that sometimes my clumsiness isn't caused by myself. In fact, I've even been tricked into thinking that I've been extremely clumsy just so that someone could attack me. That's why you might see me falling and hurting myself a lot. I'm fine though. I'm just gonna have to keep my guard up. 24 hours 7 days a week._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was walking to Sakura's house around noon, when a kunai flew in front of his face. Naruto noticed that there was a small paper tag twirling behind it. He quickly dove into an alley to avoid an explosion. There wasn't one though. He slowly walked back and carefully picked up the kunai.

It was a tag, but it was a note instead of a paper bomb. Naruto read the note and then took off for the forest near the park. The kunai lay forgotten on the ground. Its words wrote a foreboding warning.

_I have Sakura. Meet me at the forest or Konoha loses a shinobi._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto stopped at the tree line that separated the park from the forest. He carefully stepped past the invisible line and began his search for Sakura and the mysterious attacker. It didn't take long as they weren't far into the forest.

Naruto walked into the clearing the two were in. Sakura was hung, unconscious, from a tree branch at the back of the clearing by several rolls of ninja wire and the mysterious attacker was standing in front of her with an air of arrogance to him. He wore all black, including a black mask that covered all but his eyes, but had a very long blue scarf trailing behind him.

"So you came. I'll make sure you leave here defeated by me," the ninja claimed. Naruto could feel the air leaking from his head from 10 ft. away. Naruto laughed.

"Do you know how many ninja said that? Over 200. I think I've proven my point." The mysterious opponent growled angrily.

"Well then I'll be the first!" he yelled as he charged the blonde with a kunai drawn. Naruto simply stepped out of the way before grabbing him by the collar and throwing him back to where he started. The ninja grunted when he hit the ground and stood back up immediately before he charged at Naruto again. This time two shadow clones joined him.

Naruto raised an eyebrow in respect for at least working to cover a horrible charge. He, however still jumped over the ninja at the last minute and threw three shuriken, one for each ninja. When the shuriken hit, all three ninja disappeared. Naruto looked around confused until he felt a weight on his back and a kunai pressed against his neck.

"I got you," the ninja whispered cockily. Naruto simply smirked and became nothing but smoke. The young ninja looked around for where the real Naruto went when the ground beneath him began to crack. He barely managed to escape a deadly uppercut and quickly had to block a kunai slash.

The two stayed locked in that position for a while. Their blades stayed together, trapped in a battle of strength. Naruto was surprised at the young ninja's strength. It was rather strong for his size. Naruto randomly brought their kunais up, causing the enemy's arm to snap back and jumped a safe distance away.

The ninja quickly righted the balance in his arm and charged for a third time. Naruto blocked the stab that was aimed for his stomach and slashed at the ninja. His attack was blocked and returned only to be blocked. This went on for a small period of time before both ninja jumped back to catch their breath. Both contained many scratches. Most of the scratches were only on clothing, but a few had met with skin. Naruto had a few scratches run up his arms, some breaking skin, some only cutting his sleeves, and a lot of tears in his jacket's chest. The ninja had a bleeding scratch on his cheek and forehead and the rest of the scratches were only cutting the fabric. A few strands of spiky brown hair now poked out from holes in the mask he wore.

Naruto had had enough. He summoned two clones. One appeared behind the ninja and grabbed him off the ground by his collar. The other one appeared next to Naruto and began to form a rasengan. The second clone disappeared as Naruto slowly walked over to the ninja and prepared to do the final blow.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura had just woken up. She quickly looked around and saw Naruto with the ninja. Naruto was about to kill his opponent. Sakura began to scream.

"NARUTO! NOOO! THAT'S KONOHAMARU!" she screamed. Naruto froze and looked at her before grabbing the ninja's hood and tearing it off to reveal Konohamaru.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Naruto yelled as he took Konohamaru from the clone, which dispersed afterwards, and flung him as far as he could across the clearing. He landed with a thud and a groan. "I WENT THROUGH ALL OF YOUR STUPID PRANKS JUST SO THAT YOU COULD TRY AND BE ABLE TO BEAT ME?! YOU THOUGHT A FEW STUPID KUNAI AND SHURIKEN WOULD DO THAT?! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

Naruto began to charge at the scared boy before Sakura, who had managed to grab a kunai and cut herself lose, stopped him. She looked straight into his eyes with a sense of warning that he needed to stop.

"He was just messing around. It's okay. No harm was done. Now go pick him up and we'll go to my house where I can heal you both." Naruto just silently nodded and picked up Konohamaru. He put him on his back in a piggyback fashion and Konohamaru soon fell asleep on the walk to Sakura's house.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

It was just about sunset when they arrived at Sakura's house. They entered quietly and Sakura quickly healed the two boys before Naruto left to take the sleeping Konohamaru home and then go home himself.

"The boss is the best," Konohamaru mumbled in his sleep and Naruto smiled happily. In no time Naruto had dropped off Konohamaru and was sitting back at his desk at home, ready to write before he went to bed.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I truly am clumsy. I trip, I spill, and I hurt myself in stupid ways nobody else would. I'm clumsiest, however, when I'm angry. I lose all sight of reasoning and I just stop thinking like I should be. Clumsiness is just a part of me. If you see me trip on my own feet in the street or spill hot ramen on myself at Icharaku, then I hope you just remember that it's me. I'm not gonna change._

\(O.O)/

I feel this was a pretty good chapter. I know that a lot of the mess ups Naruto had were caused by Konohamaru, but you have to look beyond that to see that Naruto is still being clumsy without Konohamaru's help. Like when he tries to attack Konohamaru all because of stupid pranks used to "weaken" him. He wasn't thinking sensibly. He was being clumsy in his actions.

Well I think that went well. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.


	11. Book Eleven: Forgiveness

Well everyone can thank airnaruto45 for supplying me with a bunch of character traits that belong to Naruto. If you get the chance, go to airnaruto's page and send him a thank you. THANK YOU AIRNARUTO45!

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 11: Forgiveness

_I'm very forgiving. You can ask any of my friends. If I know that a person is truly sorry, then I forgive them. Sometimes though, I forgive people who don't deserve to be forgiven. It's because they're close to me and I believe that they wouldn't want to hurt me just because they're my friend. I know it's not true, but when you grow up like I did and escape that life, you begin to see things for the brighter side and hope that they're as you hoped for._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto and Sakura were talking. Sakura was wondering why Naruto always forgave her so easily. It made no sense. She could do the most horrible things and he almost always forgave her immediately.

"Hey Naruto, Why do you always forgive me?" she asked innocently. Naruto looked at her funnily.

"Why wouldn't I? You're Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan can never truly mean to hurt me. She might, but she never means to," Naruto supplied happily. Sakura blushed.

"What if I hurt you and actually meant to?" she questioned. Naruto's face grew still as his eyes glazed over in thought.

"Well….I would still forgive you…it would take much longer….I mean much longer….but yeah I would forgive you. You would just have to prove to me that you deserve forgiveness." Sakura smiled. That made sense. Wait. Did that mean she could do whatever she wanted and he would forgive her? That would be awesome.

"Okay. I get it. Hey I'm gonna go shopping. Want to come?" she asked casually. Naruto nodded. He didn't mind going with Sakura to shop. He could stop by the grocery store. He needed more food anyway.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto lay on the floor. He was cocooned in ice packs. Sakura had made him carry every one of her 100+ shopping bags. He was sore everywhere. It was like training with Lee while the ground was burning and meteors were falling from the sky. His muscles were burning. It hurt worse than a chidori through the chest.

Naruto slowly stood up and—stopping every few seconds to rest and let the pain die down—made his way to bed. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was lying in bed. He didn't want to get up due to how painful it was to turn his head, let alone get up and walk. Naruto began to slowly do the hand signs for the summoning jutsu and summoned the messenger hawk Shizune gave him.

'Thank you so much Shizune,' Naruto thought. A tear of pure joy and relief rolled down his face. He wrote a letter and tied it to the hawk's leg, then sent it to the Yamanaka Flower Shop to get Ino. The bird took off, but soon landed on the windowsill of his closed window. Naruto began to cry and prepared himself to open the window.

"MY FUCKING BODY! IT HURTS! FUCK! MY ARMS! WHY THE HELL DID I FORGET ABOUT OPENING THE WINDOW?! IT BURNS LIKE HELL FIRE! AAHHH! DEAR LORD ABOVE! IT HUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRTTSSSSSSS!"

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Ino sat behind the counter at Yamanaka Flowers. Today had been busy, but boring. There were constant periods of nothing. It was like a sunny day that had on and off rain. She hadn't even gotten to hear any gossip!

Ino suddenly looked up when there was a tapping on the glass door. She saw a hawk with a orange ribbon tied around its neck standing on the push hand tapping the glass. It was definitely Naruto's birthday hawk if it was that determined to deliver a letter and wore orange.

She quickly stood up and opened the door for the hawk. Naruto had been instructed to only use this bird in emergencies. He better have had a good reason. Ino carefully untied the note from the bird's leg and it disappeared since its job was done.

Ino quickly read the note and sweat dropped when she saw what had happened to Naruto. Well it definitely was an emergency…

"Mom!" she called. "Can you take my shift while I go help Naruto? He can't get out of bed. I bet he trained himself into a state of pretty much not being able to move." Her mother called down an okay and she was off.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Ino walked up to Naruto's apartment and knocked. She waited a few seconds for him to answer the door then realized he probably couldn't move.

"Naruto! How do I get in?!" she yelled. She waited for a few seconds before faintly hearing him yell back.

"My bedroom window is open!" he called. Ino quickly made her way to his bedroom window and slipped in. Naruto lay in bed fully clothed from the day before with a pained expression.

"Why's your window open? It's getting chilly outside." Ino closed the window.

"I had to open it for the hawk," he explained. Tears began to run down his face again. "It hurt like hell." Pity began to form on Ino's face, but she quickly shook it off. She knew Naruto didn't want pity.

"Why are you stuck in bed? What happened to cause you to not be able to move without feeling pain?" she questioned Naruto. Naruto then proceeded to tell Ino the whole story of what happened the day before. Ino was healing him the whole time. "Wow….."she finally said after Naruto had finished. He looked away awkwardly.

"Yeah." His cheeks were a light pink due to being caught doing something he wouldn't normally do for Sakura.

"She's using you," Ino blurted out. Naruto's face immediately snapped to meet her gaze.

"Sakura-chan wouldn't do that!" he yelled in Sakura's defense. Ino sighed.

"If you won't believe the truth, then I'll just prove it to you," she finished healing Naruto then left through the window.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Ino was standing outside of Sakura's house. She had hooked up the recorder and it was ready to record everything that was said during her conversation with Sakura. All she had to do now was knock. She knocked nervously but loudly.

"Hey Ino," Sakura greeted when she answered the door. Ino gave and innocent smile.

"Hey, Forehead. How's it going?" she asked casually. Sakura gave a shrug in response and invited Ino in. Ino quickly got down to business.

"Why are you taking advantage of Naruto?" she asked mercilessly. Sakura turned towards her surprised.

"I'm not taking advantage of Naruto," she defended herself. Ino gave her a sure-you-aren't look.

"Then how come he couldn't get out of bed and had to call me with his birthday present messenger hawk? It was because you made him carry so many boxes and acted like you were asking a favor instead of ordering around a boy you considered a slave," Ino growled. Sakura gave a huff of annoyance.

"I don't think of him as a slave. So I took advantage of him. He'll forgive me. He said so himself. He always forgives me," Sakura pronounced air-headedly. Ino growled again and then left for Naruto's apartment. This left Sakura to think about if she really had been doing the right thing. Maybe she was treating Naruto like a slave. Maybe she shouldn't have assumed that she could get away with everything she wanted…maybe she just lost one of her closest friends. Maybe she lost both.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto had listened to the recording five times now. He couldn't believe Sakura said that. She couldn't have said it. Ino had to of made it all up. Created the tape so that it sounded like Sakura.

"I'm telling you it's real. I'm sorry Naruto. I'm really sorry." Ino then began to walk out before Naruto pulled her back and hugged her. Ino could feel his silent tears. She quietly hugged him back and began to calm him down.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto woke up the next morning fully clothed and comfortably warm. He kept his eyes shut and snuggled deeper into the warmth. He was about to fall asleep again when he realized that there was a heavy weight on his chest. He opened one eye lazily and looked down at his chest. He shot out of bed after seeing what was laying there.

It was Ino's head that had been on his chest. It softly thumped on the bed and she woke up with a start. She looked around and then looked down at herself before screaming and covering herself with Naruto's blanket. Naruto's face was dark red.

"Naruto! Where are my clothes?!" she yelled angrily. Naruto flinched.

"I don't know! I can't remember what happened last night. I just know that I started drinking so that I didn't have to feel miserable anymore and you tried to stop me," Naruto explained through rapidly moving lips. Ino's face showed recognition of what Naruto was saying.

"Oh yeah. Then I gave up after a while and started drinking too. You're very persuasive," Ino recalled. Both teens began to think about the night before.

"I remember that you left after a while and that's when I went to bed…." Naruto voice died and his face began to look redder than the blood that was causing his blush. Ino's face became like that too.

"Oh crap. Now I remember. I stumbled back in here and came to your room. I don't know what I was thinking but I just undressed and laid down I guess…" An awkward silence then pursued.

"I'll leave. I'm pretty sure that pile of purple over there is your clothes. You can just leave once you're done." Naruto began to walk out.

"Wait! What are you gonna do about Sakura?" Ino asked unexpectedly. Naruto turned around and smiled.

"I know Sakura. If she said that and you reacted like that, then she'll be around to apologize sincerely at some point. I know that for a fact. Sakura doesn't like to hurt people intentionally unless they give an extremely good reason." Naruto then walked out of the room.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I've found out why I forgive people that other people think don't deserve to be forgiven. It's because I know them well enough to know that they wouldn't truly want to hurt me. They really care for me. They just didn't show it. I know this for a fact._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Ino quietly walked past Naruto and out his front door. She ran right into Sakura on her way out though. Sakura's expression after she examined Ino showed horror.

"You can't be here this early unless you stayed the night. You're hair is messy and your clothes are wrinkled. That suggests that you just woke up and are trying to leave here quickly. It also suggests that those are your clothes from yesterday. Ino doesn't wear clothes two days in a row. OH MY GOD! DID YOU AND NARUTO DO IT?!" Sakura yelled. Before Ino could answer though, Sakura ran away crying. Ino sighed. This wasn't going to be easy to explain.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

'Damn it! Why am I crying?' Sakura asked herself in her head.

"**Because you love Naruto and you can't stand the thought of him doing it with another girl. You want to be his one and only girl. The one girl he runs to and loves,'** Inner Sakura explained casually as she filed her nails. Sakura grew angry.

'That isn't the reason! I don't love Naruto! He's a friend!' Sakura yelled back.

"**Just keep telling yourself that," **Inner Sakura mumbled as she faded into the recesses of Sakura's mind.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Ino rushed back into Naruto's apartment. Naruto turned around confused until he saw the unhappy and serious look on Ino's face. Naruto's face turned serious too.

"What happened?" he asked with no time wasted. Ino's face turned grim.

"Sakura was outside and figured out that I stayed the night. She thinks we….did it," she explained. Naruto's face turned pale.

"WHAT?! Why would she think that?!" Ino's face grew red at a steady pace.

"Deduction and knowing me too well. She could tell my clothes were off…" Naruto's pale face also became crimson red.

"Neither of us can ever drink again." Ino nodded and both took off for Sakura's house.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was lying in bed. Tears were streaming down her face. She still couldn't understand why she was crying.

"**Just admit that you love him. I promise, he won't reject you,"** Inner Sakura cooed to the crying Sakura. Sakura just tried to push her away.

'That's not why I'm crying. I'm just shocked that they did it. They didn't even tell me they were a couple!' Inner Sakura gave up and slowly walked to the back of Sakura's mind.

"**Call me when you're ready to finally admit to yourself the truth we both know,"** she said before she faded away.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Ino knocked on Sakura's door determinedly. She wasn't going to let her friend think she and Naruto did it for any longer. It was a giant misunderstanding. That and a huge mistake on her drunken part. Sakura's mother then opened the door.

"Oh hello, Ino. What are you doing here?" she asked kindly. Ino smiled politely.

"Is Sakura home? We need to talk," Ino explained. Sakura's mother nodded and told her that Sakura was in her room before sending Ino off. Ino tested Sakura's door. Locked, just like she thought. Well now all she had to do was wait.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was lucky, so very lucky. That's why he got this job. He climbed the side of Sakura's house until he reached her bedroom window and slowly pushed it up. It opened with ease and Naruto smiled. His luck was prevailing. He then quietly slipped in and walked past a sleeping Sakura to the bedroom door. He unlocked it and quickly let Ino in. They then woke Sakura up.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura awoke with a start to see Ino and Naruto standing to either side of her. Confusion covered her face. She couldn't tell what was going on.

"How did you get in here?" she asked. Naruto laughed.

"Your mom let Ino in and I got us both in your room using your window. You need to lock that thing." Ino giggled alongside Naruto.

"Well what do you want?" Sakura asked rudely. Ino's face grew serious like when she had told Naruto of what had happened.

"We need to talk about what happened."

"It's not what it looked like. We just got drunk and-" Naruto was cut off by a hand over his mouth. Ino face palmed with her free hand.

"You aren't making things any better. Listen. We had a few drinks. We were drunk. I left and Naruto went to bed. Without him knowing or me thinking properly, I walked back in, undressed myself, and climbed into bed with him. That's all," Ino explained. Sakura laughed.

"If this is what happens when you two get drunk then you should never drink again," she said between laughter.

"That's what I said!" Naruto said. This caused Ino to start laughing too. Soon all three of them were laughing helplessly.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I enjoy knowing that it's easy for me to forgive others, but I like knowing that others forgive me too even more. I'm happy to know that my friends don't hold it to me when I make a mistake. I know they care for me and wouldn't do that, especially since I never mean to hurt any of them. Whenever I insult them, I always mean it as a joke or to get someone happier. I would never want to hurt my friends._

_That's why just as much as they forgive me; I need to make sure that I keep forgiving them for their mistakes. They want me to be happy. They are my friends. I know I can forgive them for the mistakes they've made that hurt me._

\(O.O)/

Well that took me awhile. Well I'm happy to report that this chapter is done. WHOO! This took me forever! It wasn't easy too. Do you know how hard it is to keep this type of stuff off of being M rated?! It was pretty hard. Please tell me if this should now be M rated. I want to make sure not to get in trouble. So yes, I hope I don't get in trouble. Please tell me! Please! Thank you.


	12. Book Twelve: Cleverness

Thanks for telling me that it isn't M rated. I'll try to avoid M rating. M rating is a bad thing for this story. It will kill its popularity. Thanks for all the reviews. Guess what? There are 41 reviews right now! Party!

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 12: Cleverness

_Did I ever tell you that I'm clever? Well I am. I'm one of the cleverest people I know, other than Shikamaru. He has an I.Q. of 300 though…..so yeah….I don't have a chance against him. Well anyway, I trick my enemies a lot._

_I remember I tricked Neji during the chuunin exams. He thought he had knocked me unconscious but I popped up out of the ground and gave him a good uppercut. I tunneled underneath him and left a shadow clone laying on top of the opening to hide the tunnel from sight. Genius right?_

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat on the bridge in team 7's training grounds. He was stuck. He didn't know what to write next. Writer's block, it was the worst disease to ever exist. It caused you to have a complete brain fart. He heard footsteps and looked over to see Shikamaru walking over to him.

"Hey Shikamaru," he greeted casually. Shikamaru gave a nod in response.

"Heard you came down here looking lost in thought. Ino forced me down here to check on you. She wants me to make sure you don't blow a gasket thinking," Shikamaru explained in a bored tone. Naruto smiled at him. Typical Shikamaru.

"Well you don't have to worry. I'm just having some writer's block." Shikamaru nodded again.

"Don't worry, you'll think of something. You're clever enough to do it." He then began to walk away.

"Thanks Shikamaru!" Naruto called after him. Shikamaru just waved as he walked away.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I know I'm clever. I really am. I, however, do have limits on my cleverness. I have smarter and more skilled thinking when my life depends on it. It makes me think more. I become cleverer in seconds. It's just how I get most of my thinking done I guess._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was packing. He had a mission soon. It was a one man mission. All he had to do was retrieve one specific man. It was easy, well on paper anyway. He was being sent to get Sasuke again. Hopefully this time wouldn't be a failure.

He finally packed his last piece of needed equipment and left his apartment. He checked his watch. It was midnight. He was just on time. Naruto quietly sped off for the main gate of Konoha. He then immediately left to find Sasuke Uchiha.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura woke up and was immediately up to get stuff done. She had to get groceries, take out the trash, clean the house, and do the dishes. All before her mother got home from a mission today. She had to check the mail first. Sakura walked outside to the mailbox and opened it up.

She was confused when she saw the contents. There were no enveloped letters. There was only a small slip of paper. She knew the mail ninja had come. She must not have had any mail. She quickly pulled out the slip of paper and read its contents. She was off in a hurry to the hokage's office. The note was left lying on the ground.

It read:

_Dear Sakura-chan,_

_I'm being sent on another mission to retrieve Sasuke. I'll make sure to get him back this time. Don't worry about me. If I don't come back, then I've probably failed. Please be happy. I've asked Sai to keep my promise for me if I happen to die. He's agreed and then you won't have to worry about Sasuke never coming back. I've made sure he'll come back even if I die. Good luck, Sakura-chan. Let's all hope that the Teme isn't the only one to come home._

_Your promise maker,_

_Naruto Uzumaki_

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Tsunade was sitting behind a pile of paperwork that was so tall that it had to be stacked from the floor to the ceiling in three stacks just so that Tsunade would have enough room to work. She sighed. Why did she ever agree to this? She then began to open her secret sake drawer when her office door burst open and she had to slam the drawer closed again. Tsunade looked up to see Sakura standing in the doorway.

"Why did you send him alone on another mission to get Sasuke back?!" she demanded angrily. Tsunade calmly stepped around her three stacks and looked Sakura in the eye.

"He requested the mission and said he wouldn't leave until I made it official. It was right about time for me to finish working and head home and I wasn't in the mood to deal with him. What else was I supposed to do?" Sakura's eyes widened.

"He asked for a solo mission this dangerous?! He needs at least one person to watch his back! Is he an idiot?!" Sakura yelled. She was angry and not thinking rationally enough to remember that Naruto was an idiot and would do such a thing.

"Yes, he asked for the solo mission and yes, he is an idiot," Tsunade answered tiredly. Today wasn't a good day for her, especially when Sakura was going to add problems. She already had the paperwork to deal with; she didn't need an angry Sakura to yell at her too.

"Well give me a mission to go and save the idiot when those two almost kill each other," Sakura ordered. Tsunade sighed and quietly wrote down the mission and its rank before handing it to  
Sakura and bidding her ado. Sakura didn't waste any time in hurrying home to pack.

Before Sakura left, she wrote a small note and left it on the front door for her mother. She was gone afterwards.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto stopped in a small town to gather more food supplies when he heard two girls talking and unconsciously began to listen in.

"Oh my gosh. Did you see that hot guy that came through town?" the first girl asked the second girl.

"Yeah I did. He looked dangerously sexy. Did you see the sword he was carrying? I wonder if he's a ninja," the second girl answered. Naruto's ears perked up and he walked over to the two girls.

"I'm sorry to intrude, but did you say there was a man girls are attracted to with a sword who passed through town," Naruto inquired politely. The first girl, a girl with purple hair and golden brown eyes, frowned.

"Why should we tell you?" she asked rudely. Naruto smiled politely.

"Well he's a friend of mine who ran away from my village and I've been sent on a mission to get him back," Naruto explained. The second girl, a girl with brown hair that was short and held back in a small pig tail to the left side of her head, gave a shrug.

"He went that way." She pointed towards the east.

"Thanks." Naruto then began to walk away.

"Wait," the first girl demanded.

"What?" Naruto asked irritably as he turned around. The first girl held out her hand.

"I want something in return for my services," she demanded. Naruto sighed and pulled out $20 and handed it to her.

"That good?" he asked tiredly. She nodded.

"Yep. Thanks for your business." Naruto then left the village in search of his friend.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was going very fast compared to how fast she could tell Naruto was going. She had found traces of him eating breakfast and lunch only about four miles apart. That meant he was walking. Sakura then spotted a small village and decided to stop for some information.

Sakura walked through the village asking people about Naruto. Nobody knew anything about him. She then heard two girls talking.

"Man, that guy was really generous. I wanted something for telling him where the guy with the sword went but I didn't expect to get 20 bucks," a girl with purple hair said.

"I know right. That guy is too nice for his own good. I have one question though. If he's a ninja, why is he wearing orange?" a girl with brown hair casually chatted back. Sakura stopped and stopped the two girls.

"Okay, tell me which way you saw the two guys go," she ordered flatly. The two girls looked at her nervously and pointed the way. "Thank you. You made a good choice in telling me." Sakura then cracked her knuckles and took off.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was close. Sasuke was setting up a camp only 20 feet away. He could tackle the Uchiha from where he was. He continued to silently watch until Sasuke turned towards him.

"I know you're there Naruto. It's easy when you don't mask your chakra," Sasuke called out. Naruto swore.

"Hey Teme. It's been a while," Naruto greeted.

"You're not taking me back," Sasuke dead ended. "If you're going to fight me to take me back then just prepare to die."

"You never were one for long conversations. Let's go then." The battle then began. Naruto charged forward with a kunai drawn as Sasuke slowly pulled out his sword. Naruto was right on top of Sasuke about to stab when Sasuke's sword was in the way and blocked his attack.

Naruto jumped away from Sasuke and summoned five shadow clones. They all charged forward and Naruto jumped above them to do a surprise aerial attack while his clones distracted Sasuke. 'Clever,' Naruto thought jokingly. He however, knew this idea was a fail when Sasuke was in front of him.

Naruto quickly blocked a deadly strike to the stomach before pushing off Sasuke's sword using his kunai. He landed on the opposite side of the clearing as Sasuke and smiled. He slowly pulled out twelve pieces of rope. Each was 40 feet long and held 200 shuriken. Naruto again summoned five clones. Naruto and each clone took two pieces of rope and sped off faster than Gaara's ultimate defense.

Within a minute, each rope was hung up around the clearing and Naruto was back at his original spot. He smiled at Sasuke. All Naruto got in return was a dark questioning look.

"Let me explain, I've set these up so that it's a battle of stamina. Whoever can't take any more cuts and hits the ground first looses. This means I can't summon any shadow clones. What do you think?" Naruto asked over confidently. Sasuke swore he could see Naruto's ego grow.

"I'll admit you're getting much cleverer. That's all I'm saying," Sasuke spoke monotonously. Naruto grinned.

"Good enough for me!" he yelled before charging into the shuriken infested clearing.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura had just arrived to see Naruto charge into the shuriken filled clearing. She gasped. Why would Naruto dive into that? Wait, did Naruto set that up? That was something he would do. It just seemed too clever for him though. Sakura sighed. Why did Naruto always have to decide that hurting himself was the best way to beat the enemy?

She knew what that sounded like. Of course you had to get yourself dirty and hurt to defeat your enemy. What she meant was that Naruto took this to a new extreme. He made it a battle of stamina. That meant he always came out worse off than a shinobi should be. Sakura had to make sure that Naruto came out of this alive.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was having troubles. The cuts stung, but he had gained a lot more than Sasuke had. Sasuke was easily weaving through the ropes while Naruto was charging past them all. Sasuke had three or four cuts but Naruto had hundreds. He hadn't realized the flaw he made by using this strategy against the one teammate he should've known would be able to dodge through the ropes.

He winced as he hit another rope but still managed to block another one of Sasuke's attacks. This was crazy. At this rate, Naruto wasn't going to last much longer. Naruto's brain then kicked into gear and he had an idea. Was it really not possible for him to use shadow clones? He had to test.

Naruto summoned one shadow clone and, while watching his surroundings for attacks, observed it duck and weave through the ropes. Naruto fist pumped. That meant he wasn't as doomed as he thought. Naruto summoned three more and then took off with all four of his clones. They all carefully wove their way through the ropes of shuriken.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was amazed. She watched as Naruto gracefully ducked, dove, and weaved through the spider web of ropes full of shuriken. She didn't know Naruto could be that graceful. It was like watching a crane fly threw a flock of crows. All except that Naruto had to step on a rope every now and then to make sure he stayed in the air.

Sakura watched almost dreamily as she watched Naruto fight Sasuke. She could feel herself slipping into her daydreams before she was snapped out of it by a sniggering in the back of her mind. Sakura growled and began to watch the fight progress again.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto continued to slash and block with his kunai. He had been lucky enough to get Sasuke a few more cuts and was smiling happily as his clones helped him fight the Uchiha. Naruto then took off running. Sasuke followed close behind.

Naruto shot past two ropes that were being held back by two clones. Sasuke didn't see the trap until too late and jumped right into the ropes as they were let go and closed in on him. Sasuke winced but just pulled the shuriken out and started following Naruto again.

Naruto then turned around and started to form a rasengan. Sasuke smirked as he preformed the necessary hand signs for a chidori and watched his sword spark to life. The two then clashed their attacks together.

All the ropes began to swing wildly and whip out at the two teenagers. The clones Naruto had summoned were quickly dispelled by flailing shuriken covered ropes. Naruto and Sasuke gained cut after cut after cut as they continued their standoff of power.

Naruto smiled as he added more chakra to his rasengan. It gained power and began to push the Uchiha back but he didn't react as Naruto had expected. Instead of panicking or adding more chakra to his attack, he instead raised his right hand as it started to crackle.

Naruto began to release his rasegan but was too slow as Sasuke's right arm was through his stomach in seconds. Naruto coughed up blood and weakly punched Sasuke in the face before he passed out and fell to the ground. He hit several ropes on the way down and ended up with several new cuts and scratches.

When Naruto hit the ground, Sasuke quickly landed next to him and stabbed Naruto in the stomach before sheathing his sword and limping off. He may have won the fight, but he had used up a lot of chakra and a gained many severe wounds. Naruto lay on the ground motionless.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura had to cover her mouth to keep in the scream of horror that she wanted to let out. She rushed to Naruto and quickly checked his pulse and breathing. She sighed in relief when she found that his heart was still beating and that he was still at least partially breathing.

Sakura then began to heal Naruto's wounds. She was unhappy with how slowly the hole in Naruto's stomach seemed to be closing. Sakura growled. If only Kakashi hadn't taught Sasuke that stupid chidori.

Tears began to run down Sakura's face and she was panicking horribly. Terrible thoughts kept flying through her head. What if Naruto didn't make it? What if she failed to heal him? What if she couldn't fully heal him and he ended up a cripple, or unable to be a shinobi? Naruto would be crushed.

Sakura quickly pushed those thoughts out of her head. She couldn't be thinking about that. She had to heal Naruto. She began to focus more and smiled in triumph as the hole in Naruto's stomach started to heal faster. Sakura heard light coughs and looked up to see that Naruto was regaining consciousness. Naruto looked down at Sakura and smiled sadly.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto coughed again and lightly sprayed Sakura with blood. "Don't waste your chakra. You don't need me. Sai will keep the promise for me. You don't have to worry about not getting Sasuke back. Sai will just take my place and keep the promise." Naruto was silenced by one of Sakura's hands.

"Shut up, baka," she commanded sternly before bringing her hand back to his stomach to increase her healing strength. "I'm not going to let you die. It won't feel right in Konoha without you. Even if we get Sasuke back, it still won't feel right." Sakura began to unconsciously cry. "You're not going to die. I won't let you!" she screamed violently. Naruto closed his eyes to hide the pain he felt at Sakura crying.

'It's all my fault. I didn't bring Sasuke back and she's hiding the pain by saying she doesn't want me to die. She says it wouldn't feel right. I shouldn't have failed this time,' Naruto thought. He then opened his eyes and looked at Sakura again before raising his hand to wipe her tears away. She looked at him bewildered and he smiled weakly.

"I'm sorry I failed again. I promise I'll get Sasuke back for you." Sakura's face grew red with anger.

"I don't care about Sasuke right now! I'm worried about you! Why don't you realize that?!" she yelled at the wounded boy. Naruto just smiled.

"I know you say you're worried, but you're actually just using me to distract yourself from the pain of knowing I failed to keep my promise again. I'll keep it. Don't worry." Naruto then passed. Sakura looked at Naruto with anger. Why was he such an idiot?! She quickly finished healing Naruto, picked him up, and rushed back home.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat at his desk. He had just been discharged from the hospital. He was thinking. There was something he was missing here. He wasn't connecting the dots somewhere. He couldn't find out where though. He finally gave up and began to write.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

"**You can't ignore the fact that you love him forever,"** Inner Sakura argued yet again. Sakura just huffed angrily.

'I told you, I don't love Naruto. I was just worried for him. That's it." Inner Sakura smirked.

"**So that's why you said it wouldn't feel right without him? That's why you wanted to hit him when he thought you were hiding pain for him failing to get Sasuke back? That's why you cried your eyes out the whole time he was getting checked out, with fears that he would die and leave you alone?" **Inner Sakura asked confidently.

'Yes,' was Sakura's final answer as she got under the covers and went to sleep.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I know I say I'm clever, but I feel like I'm missing something. I can see that I have one last puzzle piece to put in, but I can't figure out where it goes. There's something I just can't realize. I don't know why. I'm clever, but this is a mystery that only Holmes could figure._

\(O.O)/

That's the end of Book 12. Sorry that it took so long to type it up. Please tell me what you think. I love it when all my readers review on my stories. Please no flames though. I do take advice. Thanks. Bye. Until next time.


	13. Book Thirteen: Loneliness

I have to thank Savethetub for reminding me about doing this trait! I completely forgot I was gonna do this one. Thank you!

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 13: Loneliness

_I'm beginning to feel that loneliness again. It creeps into every corner of the room. It strangles you in your waking moments and all times you are conscious. It's horrible. It's almost like my childhood all over again._

_I've been an orphan all of my life. I never had any parents. They died or abandoned me or something. I know why. I remember that at first I was in an orphanage but once I was old enough to go on my own they kicked me out._

_I had to live on my own. I have to thank the Third Hokage for saving me. He's the only reason I'm still alive today. He helped pay for my apartment when I didn't have any money. I was so lonely back then. I didn't have any friends. The first real bond I ever made was with the academy teacher Iruka. He was always there for me. He always stood up for me and encouraged me. It was like having an older brother or a dad. I really liked it._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat at the Icharaku bar alone. All his friends were on missions and of course he was suspended from them still. His mission to capture Sasuke had been filed to be filed as an actual mission when he was finished with his books. Naruto sighed.

A man sat down next to Naruto and ordered a miso ramen. He then looked at Naruto and smiled.

"Rough week?" he asked. Naruto was confused until he turned his head to see Iruka and a large smile spread across his face.

"No. I'm just feeling pretty lonely. All of my friends are out on missions," Naruto explained. Iruka nodded in understanding.

"Well if you're bored or get too lonely, you can stop by the academy to teach some lessons to the kids. I wouldn't mind." Naruto took the idea into thought for a moment before smiling and nodding.

"That sounds great. Thanks Iruka-sensei," Naruto said before finishing his ramen and paying his bill. He then got up and left.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat at home, alone again. His radio was turned on but it didn't seem to block out the loneliness that was attacking him. He turned off the radio and turned on the T.V. It still did nothing to help.

Naruto finally sighed and left his apartment to go for a walk. Maybe that could distract him. Naruto walked all over Konoha. He walked through the park, through the forest, through the neighborhoods. He didn't stop feeling lonely.

Naruto didn't understand. He was surrounded by people and yet he felt utterly abandoned. It was like no one was there. He felt cold. All heat seemed to evaporate into thin air. It was horrible for Naruto. He quickly made his way back home.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I'm not made to be alone. I start to go crazy. I get depressed. It's horrible for me. It's like slowly going insane, but there isn't anyone who's there to help you get better. Hopefully my friends get back soon. I don't think I can last through much more of this._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto lay in bed. He honestly didn't want to get up. It would cause too much pain. He had been stupid. He had been drinking again. It was the worst decision of his life. He slowly sat up only to quickly—and carefully—lie back down.

Naruto decided on a different plan of action. He slowly rolled over until he could get out of bed by putting his feet then his hands onto the ground. Naruto then crawled to his kitchen to get aspirin from the medicine cabinet. He reached the kitchen but then froze when he realized his dilemma. He was on the floor, but the medicine cabinet was one of the cabinets that hung above the counter.

Naruto groaned. He was going to hate this. Naruto quickly stood up and opened the cabinet. He could feel the headache coming and rushed even faster to find the aspirin. When Naruto finally found what he was looking for, he could hardly stand up from the pain he felt in his head. He blindly grabbed for the bottle. He succeeded in grabbing the aspirin but ended up slipping on the tile floor and hitting his head on the counter.

Naruto yelled in pain before crawling back to his room to find the clothes he was missing, just his pants and jacket. Naruto laid on the floor and slowly pulled the articles of clothing on before crawling his to the front door and leaving the house.

The young blonde unsteadily stood up and locked his door before heading to the stairs. He struggled and succeeded in making it halfway down before falling and tumbling the rest of the way to the road.

Naruto pulled his bloody form from the dirt road and stood up again. He was standing much steadier and was feeling slightly better other than the pain from his mishaps. Naruto then began to stumble to the hospital.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Tsunade sighed as she looked over Naruto's sleeping form. From what she could tell he had been drinking heavily the night before. Well at least that's what his kidneys were telling her. Based on the wounds that had been healed she could tell that he had a mishap when trying to get medicine to help with the headache and had a tumble down the stairs outside his house when trying to get to the hospital. Tsunade knew what it was like from personal experience.

She sighed and sat down next to his bed. Why was this happening to him? What was causing him to have something like this happen? It didn't make sense. He seemed perfectly happy. Why would he suddenly start drinking then end up with a hit to the head and then some broken bones from a stair roll? Tsunade didn't know why and couldn't figure it out. She'd have to ask Naruto.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He saw white…and a window. Well that was nice. His hospital room had a window. Naruto stretched and sat up but cringed a little at a slight pain that surged through his entire body. He heard a laugh and looked over to see Tsunade.

"Yeah you're gonna be kind of sore for awhile," she explained to the grinning Naruto. 'Of course I'm gonna be sore for awhile,' Naruto reasoned with himself. 'I did fall down a flight of stairs.'

"Well, I'm gonna go," Naruto announced as he stiffly stood up. Tsunade placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back on the bed though. Her eyes were stern and Naruto knew he wasn't going to get out of this easily.

"You're telling me why you were so intoxicated before you go anywhere," Tsunade informed the nervous Naruto. Naruto shifted uncomfortably. He couldn't tell Tsunade why he got drunk the night before. She would kill him. No, she would make him stay in her office every second of everyday until his friends came back.

Naruto gulped. That would be like torture. It would be worse than torture actually. It would be like dying of boredom then being resurrected everyday to live through that torture again. He couldn't let that happen. Plus he had to be strong for his friends and precious people. He couldn't let them see how weak he was.

Naruto made up his mind. He wasn't going to let himself be exposed for his weakness. He was going to stay strong. He could survive a few more days of loneliness. It wouldn't be that hard. Naruto quickly replaced himself with a log and got back home. He locked every door and window.

'It won't be that bad,' he thought happily. 'I'll make it. I always do.' Little did he know how hard it would be.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_It's been 23 days now since my friends left on their missions. This includes all the days I didn't log. I've been locked up at home for most of these days. I think it's been about 16 of the 23 days were me being locked in my apartment. I rarely go outside. I only do so when I need more food._

_I can feel my brain slowly deteriorating. I'm scared. What do I do? If I don't make it through this then all my friends will see how weak I am. I can't let that happen. I won't. I have to be strong for them, no matter how lonely I get._

_I haven't had any good feelings lately. I feel horribly lonely and my apartment seems horrifying with how little life it truly contained. My radio and TV have stopped helping to keep these horrible feelings away. I know I can last this. I don't know, however, if I'll last it without losing my sanity. Wish me luck._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat in a corner. He swore the walls were mocking him. Mocking how lonely he was when they could never be lonely considering they were always so close together. That was the problem. The walls seemed to be growing smaller on him. They were shrinking due to the lack of life inside of them.

He heard a squeak and looked to see a small rat. It looked at him before scampering off through a crack in the wall that led outside. Naruto smiled. There really was no life in here if a rat rejected it.

Naruto began to laugh insanely. He was losing himself, even he could see that. He just had to fight it. Just until his friends got back. He was keeping his hygiene up. That way no one would ever be able to tell how horrible it had been for him.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_This is day 45 of my friends being gone on missions. I hear that they all got very, very long missions. That explains why they've been gone for so long. They either have this as their case or some of them came back and were immediately sent off again._

_All I know is that none of them have returned from missions yet. That isn't good. I'm going insane. You might not be able to tell by how I write, but my actions have gotten much more erratic and stressed. I've become paranoid that maybe they just don't care about me or have been avoiding me. I don't know the truth._

_I really hope they come home soon. I miss them. I have to go now. If I do go insane, I don't want it to be evident in my books. I don't want you to see how weak and lonely I really am._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was running to Naruto's house. She had just gotten home from a mission. She couldn't understand why such a simple mission could take so long. Upon hearing how Naruto was doing from Tsunade she immediately sped off for his house.

She kept asking herself why he would lock himself in his apartment. It made no sense. That was nothing like him. She would just have to ask him when she got to his house.

That wasn't a long time away as she was there within seconds. She knocked loudly on Naruto's door and waited. When there wasn't a reply she hesitantly opened his door and walked into the small almost abandoned apartment. She could hardly tell anyone lived in the place.

Sakura slowly walked through the apartment looking for Naruto. She didn't know where he was but she wasn't leaving until she found him. It didn't take long for Sakura to find Naruto when she heard him laugh crazily and call to her from his bedroom.

"What do you know? I was right. The people at the crazy house did come to get me. Oh fun. I hope they don't mind that I haven't gone completely loopy yet." Sakura's face became grim. Why was Naruto acting like this? She walked into his bedroom determinedly to find Naruto hung upside down from the ceiling in a straight jacket. She quickly cut the rope and freed him.

"Why would you do something as stupid as putting yourself in a straight jacket and hanging yourself from the ceiling?!" she yelled angrily. Naruto laughed bitterly.

"Why would I want to make it hard for the people at the loony bin to take me away?" he asked in an are-you-an-idiot tone. Sakura growled angrily and Naruto looked at her strangely. "Do I know you?" he asked suddenly. Sakura felt her heart broke at that moment and Inner Sakura went into lock down mode, stealing all of Sakura's love to release at a better time.

"Of course you know me you baka!" Sakura yelled out angrily as she punched Naruto's head into the floor. That was when Naruto's memory flashed to life and tears started to roll down his face. Sakura's anger faded and she became worried. Did she hit him too hard?

Naruto slowly stood up and hugged Sakura. He was crying with all his might. He was releasing his fears. He was showing his weak side. He was taking off the mask. It felt good to him. He was happy he did this, but he knew he could never do it again.

Sakura stood limply in Naruto's fearful embrace. She hadn't expected him to do that. Finally, with a slow and nervous pace, Sakura hugged Naruto back. She tried to comfort the crying boy as best she could.

"I was so scared. I thought all of you were avoiding me. I thought you didn't want to be my friends or hang around with me anymore. I was so scared that I would have to go back to living my childhood again," Naruto cried out to Sakura. Sakura's eyes widened with every word Naruto said. Did he really think that? Sakura gently pushed Naruto back to arms length.

"Why did you think that? None of us were planning to abandon you! We were all on missions! Some still are! We couldn't come back from a mission early!" Sakura scolded Naruto. Naruto just looked to the side guiltily and tried to leave Sakura's grasp. She wouldn't have any of it though. "You're going to tell me why you thought that now!"

Sakura watched as Naruto's head slowly sunk until it was facing the floor. Tears continued to flow down his face and Sakura was afraid she had yelled at him too much before he quietly spoke.

"Because I'm the broken toy," Naruto whispered. Sakura's face looked incredulous.

"What?" she asked confusedly.

"I'm the broken toy. The one no one wants to play with. When you meet new people, you're basically a toy they decide on if they want to play with it. Well I'm a broken toy, a broken toy with a nasty secret and a horrible past. I have to hide that from people with polishes and stitches over my tears and people I ask to rebuild me. I thought all of you finally saw past all that stuff and saw me for me and wanted nothing to do with me…" Naruto explained miserably. Sakura was crying now too. She quietly hugged him and let him cry the rest of his tears.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I've learned a lesson. I can't live without my friends. I start to break down on a mental level. I just don't do well without them. I try to hide it but I can't. They're really the only reason I want to live other than proving I'm not a monster and actually worth something. They mean the world to me and without them I don't know really what to do with my time._

_Really, what is life without friends? We only truly have value in the eyes of others. Otherwise we're just useless. As long as one person feels they need us, we have meaning._

\(O.O)/

That's the end. Sorry it took so long. I had so much homework! It sucked! Well I finally finished. I hope you enjoyed. Please review and please no flames.


	14. Book Fourteen: Mercy

Well today we have to think airnaruto45 again for another book subject. You'll definitely be surprised at how I use this character trait, especially since I have such plans for the ending. Kukukukuuuu. You'll see. You'll see. P.S. Anytime you see … after a story entry from now on, that means that the entry isn't over, it's just ended for the time being. It won't continue until an entry with … appears with the … in front of it.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 14: Mercy

_I'm very merciful. I show mercy to a lot of people. I've shown it to Sasuke plenty of times when I tried to get him to come back to the village. I can't say that meant that he showed mercy back, but that's not the point._

_You see, I have like an entire part of my brain just made to give mercy to some people that don't even deserve it. I'm not sure where. It's just there and it just acts on its own._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto stood in the hokage's office. Tsunade had called him to a meeting with her and the rest of Team 7. He wasn't completely sure why he was needed but he did know it was important.

"Well Naruto, considering your mental breakdown that occurred while your friends were all out on missions, I've decided to take you off probation. You'll be required to take your current book with you at all times on the mission. Don't worry on it being destroyed. I have special scrolls I designed just for you. They're fire proof, water proof, and pretty much indestructible. Still, be careful with them. Otherwise you're free to go," Tsunade instructed. Naruto could barely hold in his excitement and even made Shion look his way when he yelled out in joy. Everyone in the room other than Naruto almost went deaf.

"Thanks Granny! I promise you won't regret this! I'll make sure to follow all of your rules and guidelines! I really can't thank you enough!" Naruto yelled out excited as he took the scrolls Tsuande made for him.

"You better follow those rules, brat, and stop calling me granny!" Tsunade instructed angrily. "Now, I have a mission for you. You're going to be sent to the land of Rice Fields to defeat a gang of rogue ninja. Good luck," Tsunade then shooed the team out of her office.

The four ninja quickly sped off in different directions. They were going to meet at noon and needed to pack.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto had just finished sealing his book into one of the scrolls. He was fully packed and ready to go…and only had five minutes to get to the front gate of Konoha.

"Shit!" he yelled as he dashed out the door and towards the gate. He only had four minutes left now. He was jumping from roof to roof. The gate was within 20 feet. Naruto checked the time. One more minute! Naruto dove for it and hit the ground just as his time was up.

"Naruto! You barely made it you baka! Get here earlier next time!" Sakura scolded Naruto coldly. Naruto just stood up and brushed himself off.

"I'm here aren't I?" he asked rudely before walking out the gate. Sakura sighed. How was she ever going to teach him manners? She and the rest of Team 7 slowly followed after Naruto.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Team 7 was just two minutes away from the base they had been instructed to travel to. It had been about a day since they left Konoha. Naruto could see it clearly. It was a large iron building. There were guards everywhere. There were two at the front entrance, a few at the back entrance, and a large group on top of the base.

"All right team," Kakashi whispered. "We're gonna be splitting into groups. Yamato and Sai, Naruto and Sakura, and then I'll be heading in alone. Don't worry though; I knew you two would be kind of scared for me so I gave myself one of the easier paths." Sakura sighed in relief as Naruto smiled at Kakashi's knowledge of them.

"Okay Sensei," Naruto and Sakura whispered as they traveled to their route of entry. They would be traveling straight through the front door while Kakashi took the back entrance and Sai and Yamato would be taking a wood jutsu bridge to the top of the base.

"You ready?" Naruto asked Sakura as he got himself ready to run and attack. Sakura nodded and began to move forward when Naruto stopped her. "I have an idea," he said wickedly and Sakura smiled evilly.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Tanuro, an 18 year old guy with brown curly hair and a slightly left bent nose, couldn't complain about guard duty. He stood about four foot six and was scrawny, a true runt of the litter. It was boring, but it was better than being sent on missions when you aren't a fighter. He sat on a small metal chair. He was leaned back relaxed when he heard a sudden noise and looked up to see that his partner was gone.

Tanuro stood up cautiously and walked over to where his partner had been sitting seconds ago. All he could find was a hole in the ground. He walked around it curiously when he was suddenly pulled through the earth by his feet. He fell into a small hole and a kunai was immediately pressed to his throat.

"Don't scream or struggle. You're dead meat now," a husky voice spoke from the darkness of the tunnel he was in.

"Naruto! Don't scare him like that. If we're gonna kill him at least let him see us," a feminine voice rang out. There was a sudden flash and a small lantern was lit. Tanuro immediately felt fear when he saw the two Konoha headbands on the ninja's foreheads.

"Please don't kill me!" he blurted out desperately, tears streaming down his face. "I can't fight and I'm too much of a coward to go back and get the boss. He'll hurt me worse than you would. I don't want him to call me a failure then torture me to death." He continued to ramble before the mail put a hand over Tanuro's mouth.

"Fine, just shut up. Go back through this tunnel to the forest and leave. Don't come back," the male then removed his hand and kunai and stepped out of Tanuro's way. Tanuro didn't need to be told twice and took off for the exit.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I really am merciful. I know this because I definitely don't kill every enemy I come across. A guy about my age was working as a guard and I let him go. I know it's not the best choice, but he was no fighter and I could tell he was too afraid to do anything to harm us. All he could really do was yell. I didn't think that would do it because he was so afraid of us…_

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto cautiously poked his head out of the tunnel before climbing out and pulling Sakura out. It was all clear as far as he could tell. The two Knonoha ninja's then silently slipped into the base to try and destroy it from the inside.

The two traveled like mice, hiding when people appeared and staying silent the whole time. They made sure to not be spotted. They slowly made their way to the center of the base. This was where their stolen base blueprints said the main room was. They were simply checking to make sure that their blue prints were correct.

They rounded one more corner and came upon two large double doors. It was just as their blueprints said. The main room was in the center of the base. The two ninja then slowly snuck out of the base to meet up with the rest of their team.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Kakashi smiled as each group in the team reported a positive on the blueprints' credibility. Now all they had to do was wait for night time to employ their plan.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Tanuro heard it all. He had to warn the boss and the rest of the base. If he didn't, then the boss and everyone—and he meant everyone including captives who would be killed by the boss—would be killed. This thought scared Tanuro. He had people close to him that were being held captive. He couldn't let them be killed. Tanuro rushed for the main room. He finally made it and ran straight for the boss.

The boss was a slim man. In no means was he slender or thin, just slim. He stood around five foot six but had amazing strength for his size. He had hair white enough to make you go blind in the sunlight if he didn't wear a robe with a baggy hood that covered his hair excessively. Other than the robe, the boss wore a pair of standard ninja pants that had been cut into shorts and no sandals, just bare feet.

"BOSS!" Tanuro called frantically as he charged for the throne at the back of the room. The man in the king's chair turned his head towards Tanuro as he rushed forward.

"What is it Tanuro?" he asked in a considerate, yet slightly annoyed, voice.

"Ninjas will be attacking tonight!" Tanuro announced urgently. The boss's eyebrows rose amusedly.

"Is that so?" he asked as if he were talking to a child. It was then that another member of the bandits came running in.

"All of the guards are-" he then saw Tanuro. "Well all of the guards except for Tanuro are dead." The boss's face grew grim.

"Looks like you weren't lying, Tanuro. Okay everyone prepare to fight!" the boss ordered. There was a loud cheer then all of the bandits fled for the armory.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

It was around midnight. Team 7 was now ready to commence their attack on the enemy base. All they had to do was keep up one hit kills and they could easily make it through to the main room to fight the leader and take him down.

Naruto's scrolls were strapped carefully into a padded container he wore on his back. As long as that was safe, Tsunade wouldn't kill him. His face contorted into a horrified face when he thought of what Tsunade would do to him if the scrolls did get destroyed. He shook his head quickly and focused back on the mission.

Kakashi gave the signal and the three groups split up again into their partners. The same routes were issued. Naruto and Sakura quickly located their tunnel and climbed in. They were almost immediately at and through the front door. Their journey was a perilous one. There seemed to be ninjas around every corner. It was insane.

Naruto stood panting. He was sweating slightly but his chakra was still in full stock. He had been careful to only use kunai and to not be seen. He sat against a wall to rest for a moment when an idea popped into his head.

"Is it just me," he asked, "or does it seem like they know we're coming?" Naruto asked Sakura seriously. Sakura's eyes widened at this idea. It seemed plausible, too plausible. Her hands immediately went to her mouth.

"I think they do. We did release that one guard earlier. You don't think—?" Sakura's question was left unfinished. Both knew what she was going to say and both suspected it was correct.

"I'd say it's the only possible answer," Naruto answered with anime tears running down his face. "I feel really stupid now." Sakura quickly smacked him upside the head.

"Baka! We need to focus on not getting caught. Come on, we'll be fine as long as we stick to the shadows. The two ninjas then set off for the center of the base.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

The fight wasn't going well. They were outnumbered and couldn't find any of their teammates. Yamato and Sai had apparently been held up by a large group of ninja and Kakashi had used his sharingan too much.

Naruto stood in the middle of the room fighting off hundreds of bandits. With each bandit down there were 13 to replace it. Sakura was running low on chakra and Naruto could tell. He was still doing okay with chakra stores but he needed to get Sakura out of there now. He noticed a small figure in the corner watching while pretending to struggle to get up front.

Naruto growled. He grabbed Sakura out of the way of an attack and, with chakra enforced strength, jumped over the crowd before grabbing the figure and running. He sprinted, chakra sending him forward at an amazing pace and Naruto was out of the base with Sakura and the figure in less than five minutes.

Naruto then returned to the team's hideout and set Sakura down before flinging the scrawny figure to the ground. His eyes were dark red with black slits for pupils. The boy gave a small yelp of fear.

"So you're going to rat us out after we spared you huh?" Naruto asked in an edgy tone. "I believe that deserves a punishment." His voice had become very dark and crazy sounding at this point and Sakura decided to jump in by knocking Naruto out cold with a hit to the back of the head.

"Baka can't control himself sometimes. Stupid idiot," she murmured in disapproval. Meanwhile the Kyuubi yelled in anger.

"YOU BITCH! I'LL GET YOU! YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO CONTAIN ME! NEVER!" he screamed in his rage. Nobody heard him though as Naruto was out cold and was the only one who could hear his voice.

"Wh-what was that?" Tanuro asked horrified. Sakura smirked, it was her time to scare the betrayer.

"That's the power that we'll use on you if you ever cause us trouble again. You see, Naruto's not a normal person. He's a jinchuuriki, the most powerful jinchuuriki in the world in fact. He contains the Kyuubi, the king of all bijuu," Sakura announced, her eyes becoming cold and deadly. Tanuro turned paler than a snowflake when he heard this.

"Now," Sakura spoke again," why did you rat us out? We spared your life. You were supposed to leave." Sakura cracked her knuckles and Tanuro gulped.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Yamato, Sai, and Kakashi arrived back a few minutes later to find Naruto out cold on the ground while a tied and gagged boy with millions of bruises struggled on the ground. Sakura sat around a campfire cooking. Kakashi's immediately face-palmed.

"What happened now?" he asked in a tired voice. Sakura explained all that happened and Kakashi sighed before sitting down. "You know you shouldn't have let him live right?" Sakura nodded ashamedly.

"Yes Kakashi-sensei," she agreed.

"Good don't let it happen again. We'll let him live since you already promised not to kill him." Sakura smiled then continued cooking.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto awoke lazily. He scratched his back then gathered around the fire with the others. He glanced around the camp and noticed Tanuro in a corner tied to a tree and eating soup. Naruto's memory then clocked him in the face and Naruto stared at everyone making sure no one was hurt.

Sakura noticed this and giggled. It was just like Naruto to make sure that all of his friends were okay. She patted him on the back and handed him a bowl of instant ramen she had cooked and saving for him. Naruto took it with gratitude and gulped it down. He then became serious.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are we going to do about them knowing we're here?" he asked concernedly. Kakashi's face grew into one of intense thought and he finally looked at Naruto after five minutes of thinking.

"I'm not sure, but it's our mission to take him down and we're going to do that," Kakashi encouraged the whole team. Everyone smiled until Tanuro began to laugh. They all looked over to see him laughing hysterically.

"You do realize you're all going to die right?" he asked with a smile full of mirth. Naruto growled. He slowly stood up and walked over to Tanuro.

"You want to run that by me again you little punk?" Naruto threatened. Tanuro just laughed harder, sorrowful tears running down his face.

"You're all going to di-" he never finished due to a strong clock from Naruto.

"I won't die! I'll keep surviving, just to keep my friends safe! I'll even take down villages to protect them!" Naruto bellowed. Tanuro's face turned to amusement at Naruto's anger.

"I'm not saying that because I'm a fully fledged fan of the boss. I'm saying this because I have friends and family in there that if it was possible to save them all with none of us dying I would try. It's pointless however. We would all be killed within minutes of escaping. The boss and his goons are too strong for anyone. Even you and you're ninja friends." Naruto's anger was growing. He was being put down, just like when he was a child.

"I'll show you!" he yelled," I'll save every damn prisoner in that base and live to tell the tale. All of my friends will make it out with me, and so are you!" Tanuro smirked.

"Go ahead and try then," he challenged. Naruto growled before taking off for the base, the rest of team 7 in tow.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I've made many promises that have shown my mercy. One of the biggest ones was that I promised a boy about my age that I would save his family, him, and all other prisoners in a base of bandits without any of them dying. Now granted he wasn't one of the prisoners but he did need to survive._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Tanuro sat there, tied to a tree, thinking about the boy with the golden locks and water blue eyes. He smiled. That boy was pretty stupid to take on a challenge like that….or….was he? Could this Naruto really save everyone he cared about? No. It was impossible. Wasn't it?

Tanuro continued to think. Was he underestimating a very powerful shinobi? He might be. That boy was very self confident. It made sense, but he couldn't figure out why. Was he just now meeting someone who could change him so that Tanuro and his family could finally go home and he could protect them? If that was so then Tanuro had to escape and make sure this kid survived.

Tanuro moved quickly, he pulled out a kunai and was out of his bonds within seconds. He then sped off towards the base to make sure Naruto and the rest of the people Naruto promised to save would survive.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto didn't know how long they had been fighting. It could have been seconds or it could have been hours. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that the last bandit in the base had finally been killed.

Team 7 began sprinting for the cells where the prisoners were being held. They arrived almost immediately at their destination and Naruto began destroying the locks on all of the cells. After that was accomplished, they gathered all of the prisoners and were speeding off for the front exit.

They were almost there when a slim, yet strong, looking figure appeared in front of the group. His hood still hung low over his forehead. It kept his hair out of view and hid small bits of his face.

'That must be the boss,' Naruto thought before stopping the group. He stared straight into the piercing grey eyes. They were almost like daggers. "You must be "the Boss" as everyone calls you," Naruto called out before sending the group towards the back exit, leaving only Naruto and the Boss.

"I am. Why do you attack my base?" he questioned irritated. Naruto smiled.

"Oh no reason, I was just sent on a mission to kill all of you so that you would stop disturbing the villages nearby," Naruto explained. The Boss growled viciously.

"You think you can defeat me? If you so want to kill all of us, then why don't you kill Tanuro? I know he's still alive." Naruto smiled again.

"I like him, he may not show it, but he's brave. He's brave enough to get up every day just to face people like you who don't treat him right and still not kill himself. He's brave enough to face life when he knows you, an enemy, or another bandit could kill him at any moment. He's a good guy, unlike you, you scumbag." The Boss' face grew angry and he charged forward, a small dagger dropping into his hands.

Naruto summoned five shadow clones, each of which pulled out two kunai and charged. The first clone stabbed down at the Boss only to be blocked and stabbed with one dagger while the other was thrown and plunged into the head of another. The clones exploded into smoke.

Clone three and clone four teamed up and charged from different sides. This gave a slight opening for clone five and Naruto. The Boss reached his daggers out in both directions to block the clones three and four. It was as he was slashed and punched in the stomach that he realized his mistake.

The Boss stumbled back before regaining his balance and charging again. Clones three and four disappeared as clone five and Naruto formed a rasengan and charged forward with that. As Naruto charged forward, clone five disappearing on the way, he noticed that the Boss' daggers were gone and he was forming hand signs.

Naruto sped up to end them, but was too late. The Boss finished and began to charge forward. A small spark of chakra suddenly flew out of his fist only to cover his arm in chakra that took the form of an eagle. The two combatants yelled out their attacks as they collided.

"RASENGAN!"

"RISING EAGLE FIST!"

The attacks pushed against each other. Their chakras fighting for dominance before a giant explosion erupted from the two attacks. Both Naruto and the Boss were thrown back by this explosion and the base began to collapse.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura heard the explosion and turned around to look at the base they had just escaped from. It was nothing but fire and rubble from what she saw after the explosion ended. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"NARUTOOOOOOOO!" she hollered in panic and began to charge towards the rubble before Kakashi stopped her and carried her back to the camp. She was kicking and screaming the whole way a small tear slid down Kakashi's face unnoticed by everyone but himself.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Tanuro didn't know what happened. One minute he was trying to find Naruto and the next the base was gone and he was on his back under dust and small stones. He had been lucky enough to avoid all big debris. He laid there for a few moments before hearing Sakura scream. Tanuro realized that Naruto hadn't escaped the explosion and stood up to look for the lost ninja.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was trapped under a large slab of stone. He couldn't lift it and it seemed he would be stuck here forever. He was covered wholly with only his hands, feet, neck, and head not being crushed. Naruto looked around for help but began to panic when all he could find was a slim hooded figure walking towards him.

His fears were confirmed when the Boss stepped out of the dust that filled the battlefield and continued to walk towards Naruto. Naruto knew this was the end and prepared to take his final breaths. The Boss walked over calmly until he was right next to Naruto's head. Here he lost his temper and stomped on Naruto's throat.

"You shouldn't have come here. You would only be killed by me if you did and now you're going to be." Naruto choked in silence during this monologue and began to lose consciousness when the foot on his throat was suddenly gone. He looked up to see the Boss struggling with Tanuro. There was a kunai in the Boss' back, meaning Tanuro had jumped him and stabbed him.

The two struggled some more before Tanuro was launched off of the Boss and landed heavily on the ground. The Boss pulled the kunai out of his back and walked to Tanuro in a slow annoyed manner. He stepped next to Tanuro and stood above him before bringing the kunai above his head and down into Tanuro's stomach. Naruto watched in horror as Tanuro coughed up blood before going limp.

The boss smirked evilly and began to turn around when a sudden blast of chakra and a demonic presence exploded from where Naruto was. The Boss turned around slowly and timidly to see the stone Naruto was under broken to dust with Naruto standing in the middle of a giant vortex of red chakra.

There was nothing the boss could do to protect himself as Naruto shot forward, a rasengan in his right hand. He was dead before he hit the ground. The red chakra around Naruto evaporated into thin air and Naruto almost fell before catching himself and stumbling over to Tanuro. He then put Tanuro on his back and began stumbling towards the camp.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was bawling. She had been tied to the tree Tanuro had been tied to earlier to keep her from trying to find Naruto and she couldn't stop crying. Why wouldn't they let her go? Naruto needed her. She just knew it. They needed to let her go.

It was then that she saw the blonde hero she was crying for begin to walk out of the dust. He was covered in grime and bruised all over. From his shallow breathing Sakura could tell he had at least one broken rib and needed medical attention immediately.

She also saw the small figure Naruto was carrying. It was Tanuro. He looked half dead and was oozing blood onto Naruto's back as he carried him to the camp. Sakura began screaming and Kakashi rushed over to see what was going on. He looked and saw Naruto and Tanuro and immediately cut Sakura loose. That was Sakura's signal to run.

Sakura was next to Naruto in seconds and immediately took Tanuro onto her back before almost dragging Naruto to the camp. When they arrived, she immediately began working on Tanuro.

He didn't seem too hurt. A few bruises and cuts from debris. The worst wound he had was a deep stab wound that went straight through the front of his stomach and came out his back. Sakura used her healing techniques on it, but it wouldn't close. Her chakra was too low for her to do anything at all for him. Tanuro was bleeding and she couldn't save him. She walked back to Naruto and shook her head. She was chakra depleted and she couldn't save him.

Naruto began to cry. He walked to Tanuro's side and sat down. Tanuro had woken up and was smiling at Naruto.

"I saved you…." he declared happily. Naruto smiled at him through his tears.

"That you did," he agreed. Tanuro smile grew.

"You won the bet…good….job….." Tanuro coughed out. Naruto told him to calm down but Tanuro just began to laugh. "I won't calm down. I was right. You did…teach me how…to…..be stronger….." Naruto frowned.

"No I didn't." Tanuro just laughed some more before coughing up blood.

"Yes…..you did…..I faced…..m-my…fears and…..fought back…I'm st…..strong now." Naruto was crying even harder.

"You really are." Tanuro smiled and nodded. Naruto nodded back and formed a rasengan before slamming it into Tanuro's stomach. Tanuro was dead immediately. Sakura screamed and began yelling at Naruto asking why he did that. The only response she got was him walking away.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

…_I was wrong though. He proved his bravery when he not only warned the Boss about us, but then also fought back against the tyrant who had been keeping his family in shackles. He proved his strength and mercy. Sadly, he was dying. I proved my mercy to him. I gave him a thank you present, a rasengan to the stomach._

_I know you may think that's harsh, but he was bleeding out. I was actually giving him mercy. I put him out of his misery and sent him to the other side in a less painful way. I now say this. Tanuro, if you're out there watching down on me, good luck. Rest in peace, buddy._

\(O.O)/

I'm finally done. Sorry for taking so long on this chapter. It is my longest though, so you can't blame me. Plus my grandpa died on Thursday of last week. It was hard but I'll be fine. Plus I've been getting a bunch of stupid algebra homework.

Sorry for being so late, hectic month. Please review and please no flames.


	15. Book Fifteen: Loyalty

Well here's chapter 15. I hope I'm not boring everyone with my last chapter. I just wrote it and felt it good. Sorry. I hope this one is better.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 15: Loyalty

_I'm very loyal. I'm loyal to my village, despite some bad things it's done to me, I'm loyal to the girl I love, even though she doesn't love me, and I'm loyal to my friends. I'm loyal to those who prove they're loyal to me as well._

_The village proved to be loyal to me by producing me all the great friends and mentors I have, She has proved she's loyal to me with how many times she's trusted me and saved my life, and my friends have proved they're loyal to me by always sticking up for me._

_Now when I say loyal, I don't mean slaves or anything. I mean trust in each other that they'll all protect each other. I mean loyalty as I say them. A man is loyal to his village by the duty that he does, is loyal to his love by always being there for her and making sure she's happy, and is loyal to his friends by always having their backs through thick and thin._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat in his room alone, listening to the radio again. He knew he wouldn't be alone for long. With every book he published, he got closer to winning Sakura over. This thought caused a smile to appear on his face. He would prove that he could be loved.

Naruto laughed. Prove that he could be loved. That sounded like something from a cheesy romance novel. Then again, his life was different from the ordinary, so who could he blame but himself when things he said or thought were cheesy or lame? Then again, when wasn't he cheesy or lame? It seemed like he did a lot of stuff you would see in a romance novel.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was taking a walk through the forest. It was nice to get a break from missions and his books. He walked through the peaceful forest. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, it was just one of those perfect weather types of days.

He found a small stream and was sitting enjoying the beauty when he felt a presence nearby. Presuming it was a friend or fellow villager, Naruto let his guard down and waited for them to join him or pass by. When the presence did neither Naruto turned around to see who it was only to have a strange smelling cloth put in his face. Naruto struggled but was utterly unconscious in seconds.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was looking for Naruto. He was needed by Tsunade to check in on how his books were coming along. She had looked for him everywhere and couldn't find him. She was wondering through the park looking for him when she noticed two figures, one tall and skinny with a slim boyish face and short buzz cut hair and the other short, tan, and muscular with a scruffy mustache, struggling to carry another figure. (Sakura was surprised that the two were struggling.)

She walked closer to see if she could help them get the person to the hospital if needed when she saw that they were carrying Naruto. Sakura called out to get their attention so that she could ask them what happened. When she called, both men looked towards her then picked up Naruto and ran. That was when Sakura knew something was wrong.

Sakura took chase after the villains that had kidnapped Naruto and was gaining on them when they suddenly disappeared. Sakura thought it was a genjutsu and tried to release it only to find she was perfectly fine. Knowing what she had to do, Sakura raced towards the hokage tower to tell Tsunade.

Meanwhile, the two figures traveled through secret underground tunnels. It was their secret base. They were staying there temporarily until they could convince their captive to join their ninja village, then they would be heading back home to Kumogakure.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Tsunade sat at her desk stacking sake bottles. She was up to eight when Sakura burst in the room and they all clattered to the floor. She looked up questioning Sakura with her eyes. Tsunade could see that Sakura had sprinted here and that she was very scared based off the sweat and the fact that her pupils were almost the size of fleas.

"Naruto's been kidnapped!" Sakura screamed urgently. At this Tsunade wasn't sitting or even in the room anymore and was dragging Sakura down the hall.

"Where did they take him?!" She was yelled at. Sakura quickly directed her to where the ninja disappeared to. The two were there in no time and began their search.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was slowly coming into consciousness. He was struggling though. The chloroform had been in a heavy dose. He couldn't tell how long he had been out or where he had been taken. He only knew that it was musty and he was chained tightly to the wall in a crucifixion stance.

He looked around to see stone walls. It seemed like it took whoever built this a good while to build it. He examined his surroundings again to find two men sitting. They were playing cards. Both were completely oblivious to Naruto's sudden consciousness. He smirked and cleared his throat. Both men jumped at the noise.

Naruto laughed at the two men's reactions. It was funny. All he did was clear his throat and he scared them. Naruto's captors turned sharply on him and began to move towards him. Both of their faces looking like Yamato's when he became angry. Naruto sweat dropped at this sight.

As the two men came to a halt in front of him, Naruto knew they weren't going to hurt him. Something else was going on. It didn't seem right to him. Most people that captured him (mostly the Akatsuki) tried to kill him. This seemed rather strange, but subtle.

"Uzumaki-sama," the taller man spoke," we have come to take you to our village. We want you to join Kumogakure." Naruto's face grew annoyed. Didn't other villages realize this? He didn't want to join any other villages. He was happy in Konoha and was willing to kick all of the other villages' butts just to keep it safe.

"Thanks, but no thanks," was Naruto's answer. Both men looked to each other then back to Naruto. They began to raise a cloth to Naruto's mouth and Naruto panicked. He wouldn't be able to escape if they knocked him out again. Naruto struggled but it was useless as the damp rag made contact with his face for the second time.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was panicking, Tsunade and she had been looking everywhere for Naruto. They couldn't find him or his captors in any of the forests around Konoha. They searched every section that they knew the men could've disappeared to with Naruto in tow. Sakura was beginning to feel a little hopeless.

Then she heard a sound. Sakura turned around to see a rock moving as two men stepped out of an underground cave. It was them and Naruto was there on their shoulders. Sakura raced towards them. She needed to get them away from Naruto.

Sakura was within hitting range when the two ninja suddenly disappeared. Sakura looked around to see them smiling evilly at her from a tree branch about a mile away. Sakura had no idea how they had done it. She began to follow but they disappeared again and Sakura knew that she probably wasn't going to see them again.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

The two ninja smirked. The taller of the two turned to the shorter and gave him a thumb up.

"Nice job, Soku*," he complimented. Soku just smiled. His speed jutsu was unbeatable. It was almost as effective as transporting.

"Well my jutsu is unbeatable remember?" he asked obviously. The taller man, Yushi*, just nodded. "It does take it out of me though. We can rest here. They shouldn't be able to find us for a long time." Yushi just nodded again. The two men then sat down to rest.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Tsunade was having a hard time looking when Sakura kept blubbering. The girl was almost in tears. Tsunade had asked Sakura why she was crying now and not other times Naruto had been captured and Sakura didn't know. Tsunade knew though. Sakura had feelings for Naruto.

Another whimper came from Sakura and Tsunade was fed up. She turned around suddenly, completely still. Sakura stopped just in time to avoid a crash with Tsunade. She looked up confused until she saw Tsunade's face. Then she grew worried.

"Sakura, you're obviously not in a well enough condition to continue working on this mission to retrieve Naruto. I'm sending you back. You'll retrieve others to help with the search but stay in the village. Understand?" Tsunade instructed. Sakura, scared by Tsunade's stern face, just nodded and sprinted back towards the village. She secretly planned to sneak back though.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was coming to again. He looked around again to see that his captors had taken him to a clearing in the forest outside of Konoha. He searched and found his captors sitting next to a fire a few feet away. It was nighttime now and Naruto was tied to a tree helplessly. He was again tied in crucifixion manner.

Naruto whistled but the two men didn't jump this time. They just turned towards him with bored looks. Naruto frowned. There went his only entertainment. The two men then stood up and walked over to Naruto. They still didn't seem to want to hurt him.

"So Uzumaki-sama has awakened," the shorter man said. Naruto growled.

"Just let me go you bastards," he commanded. The two men looked down at the ground and shook their heads. "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm Yushi and this is Soku and I'm sorry but we can't do that," Yushi spoke now. "We were told to bring you to our village to join us at all costs. Isn't there any reason that you wouldn't want to stay in Konoha?" Naruto shook his head and both men sighed.

"Well we were told that you were mistreated in Konoha," Soku mentioned. Naruto looked up at the men surprised. How could they know that? "We promise that no one in Kumo will harm you like that. They don't want to. You're a hero to them. You've defeated many an enemy. They all look up to you."

As Naruto listened to this he began to think. Did he really want to stay in Konoha if most civilians hated him? Was it worth it? Did anyone in Konoha really want him around? Did he want any of them to be around him? With all these questions asked, Naruto decided his answer.

"Take me to Kumo." Yushi and Soku smiled as they untied Naruto from the tree.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura sat breathing hard behind a tree. She had done exactly as Tsunade demanded her to do then while no one was looking, snuck out of the village. She had been searching for Naruto for hours now and had just found him. She was about to attack the enemy ninja and free Naruto when she heard them talking. Sakura looked around the tree to see what was happening.

"I'm Yushi and this is Soku and I'm sorry but we can't do that," so that was their names, but what couldn't they do. Sakura guessed they meant they couldn't let Naruto go. She continued to watch from her perch.

"We were told to bring you to our village to join us at all costs. Isn't there any reason that you wouldn't want to stay in Konoha?" Sakura gasped. They wanted to recruit Naruto? They couldn't force him. This now known fact caused Sakura to smile when Naruto shook his head no.

"Well we were told that you were mistreated in Konoha," Soku tempted the Uzumaki. Sakura's face grew confused. Naruto was mistreated? She didn't know that. "We promise that no one in Kumo will harm you like that. They don't want to. You're a hero to them. You've defeated many an enemy. They all look up to you." Soku continued to lure Naruto. Sakura prayed that Naruto wouldn't let them take him.

She watched carefully as Naruto thought about it. When he looked up with a clever grin on his face, Sakura's heart flew. He wasn't going to leave. "Take me to Kumo." Sakura's heart suddenly crashed back down to Earth and she had to cover her mouth before a sob escaped her lips.

How could Naruto betray the village like that? How could Naruto betray his friends like that? How could Naruto betray her like that? As these questions flashed through Sakura's head, she leaned back against the tree she was behind and began to cry quietly. She then stood up and silently stumbled away.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto had just been untied. He rubbed his sore wrists and ankles before walking around a bit. He smiled cunningly then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Yushi and Soku looked around afraid that they had lost their recruit when Naruto suddenly burst out of a tree with a rasengan in hand.

He flew towards Yushi and Soku and would've hit them if Soku hadn't of used his speed jutsu and pulled Yushi out of the way with him. Naruto cursed and blew up into another puff of smoke. The two ninja looked at each other in horror. It was a clone, and with the Kyuubi's power there could be hundreds if not millions more.

Yushi and Soku got into fighting stances prepared to block any attacks coming their way. Three kunai came flying from different directions and the two blocked them immediately. Another clone came flying out at them and Yushi simply slashed its stomach, reducing it to smoke.

The ninja survived another two minutes together like that until Naruto came bursting out of the ground between them with a rasengan in hand. Yushi and Soku dived to opposite sides. They attempted to regroup but it was then that all of the clones jumped from the trees to join Naruto in the middle of the clearing, successfully blocking the men from reaching each other.

Soku cursed and activated his speed jutsu. He then pulled out two kunai and began weaving through the crowd of Narutos, slicing and chopping up many as he went. It made little difference to the numbers of the 500 clone army.

Soku continued his ravage on the Narutos. Every time a rasengan or kunai came barreling at him he was gone and it connected with another clone. This continued until Soku stabbed one Naruto in the left shoulder and couldn't pull his kunai away.

He looked back to see what was happening. He was surprised that the clone he stabbed wouldn't turn into smoke. Soku stopped to think. Wait, that wasn't a clone. It was Naruto. Soku smirked and twisted the blade, causing Naruto to wince and go to his knees.

Soku's over confidence caused him to not notice two clones charging at him. The first clone jumped on his back while Naruto grabbed his arm to keep him in place and the second clone slammed a rasengan straight into Soku's stomach, sending the man spiraling through two trees.

Naruto stood up and pulled the kunai out of his shoulder before turning toward Yushi. Yushi, obviously the smarter of the two, was finally showing his true strength as he destroyed clone after clone with two small swords that he had pulled out from under his shirt.

The swords glowed blue with chakra, a resource Yushi obviously had an abundance of. With each slash that Yushi made the chakra would spread forward and slice two extra clones. Unlike Soku's attack, it was doing serious damage.

Naruto decided to take him on in a battle of chakra endurance. He dispelled the clones leaving Yushi slightly confused. Naruto whistled and Yushi turned towards him, swords raised. Naruto smirked and readied the kunai he had pulled from his shoulder. He charged forward at Yushi, dodging chakra blades as he went until he was able to deflect the actual blades with his kunai.

Yushi smiled evilly. This was right where he wanted Naruto. Close hand combat was his specialty. Yushi pushed Naruto back then quickly slashed before Naruto could block. Naruto gasped in pain as an x shaped slash appeared on his chest. He ignored the pain and countered.

Yushi was amazed at how fast Naruto recovered and countered. Yushi could only wheeze as Naruto's kunai was driven deep into his stomach. He stumbled a little but caught himself and prepared to fight again.

Naruto was ready too. He held his kunai tightly and brought it up to slice only to disappear. Smoke was all that was left of him and Yushi was left confused until a kunai came from behind him and stabbed him through the chest, piercing his heart and killing him almost instantly. As Yushi dropped to the ground, Naruto pocketed his kunai and began stumbling towards Konoha.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was running. She didn't care if she ran into Tsunade, Tsunade needed to know along with all the others. Naruto was now a part of Kumogakure. He was a defect. Tears were racing down Sakura's face with every step she took. Many of them were flying behind her.

Sakura continued to run until she collided with someone. She looked up to see Shikamaru sitting on the ground rubbing his butt and back. He was mumbling and cursing.

"Troublesome. Why were you ru-?" he began to ask before seeing Sakura's tears. "Why are you crying?" Sakura couldn't hold it in. She latched onto Shikamaru in a tight hug. She needed to hug someone.

"Naruto ran away with the Kumo men," she sobbed into Shikamaru's chuunin vest. Shikamaru's eyes grew wide before he mumbled a troublesome and picked up Sakura so that he could run.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Ino was with most of the group talking about what areas should be checked next. In this group was Kiba, Shino, Neji, Hinata, Tenten, and Kakashi. Lee was off running through the forest searching frantically for his lost friend and Choji, Asuma, and Kurenai hadn't been able to make it because of missions. Shikamaru was also still searching.

The whole group turned to see Shikamaru land a few feet away from them holding a crying Sakura. Ino couldn't help but growl a little at the fact that he was carrying Sakura and not her but pushed her jealousy aside since her friend was crying. Everyone rushed over to Sakura to see what was wrong and they all were given the same thing.

"Naruto's gone! He ran away with the Kumo men! He's a defect! He abandoned us!" Sakura cried out heartbrokenly. She had just lost another one of her friends, the only one that truly cared for her too. It was traumatizing.

Everyone but Shikamaru looked at her in disbelief. They couldn't believe that Naruto would do that. Would he? No, of course he wouldn't. He loved the village and his friends more than anything. Hinata was starting to cry and everyone else was freaking out until they heard a rustle and looked over as a group to see Naruto stumble over and collapse on the ground. A grin was ever present on his face.

"How late am I?" he asked as he raised his dirt covered face. Sakura, Hinata, Ino, and Tsunade immediately rushed over to heal him. Sakura and Hinata were still crying and they pampered him like he was a king. Naruto just laid back and closed his eyes before falling asleep peacefully.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I truly am loyal to my village, love, and friend. Without them I'm nothing. I need them and I know for sure that they need me. I won't let other villages take me from them. I even killed two enemy ninjas because they kidnapped me to force me into another village._

_I know that it wasn't really my sort of thing to do, but what else could I do? They wouldn't let me go without a fight and if I escaped they would've hunted me down. I killed them for my village so that I can stay and protect it, along with my friends and love. I truly am loyal to all of them and I never plan on leaving them behind._

\(O.O)/

Sorry that it took so long to finish this chapter. I've been so busy with this being show week for CYT (if you live in Kansas City, Missouri and you're interested we're doing Willy Wonka Jr. just got to and order your tickets online, it's at Park Hill South High School from the 25-28 of April), I've been getting a lot of stupid algebra homework, and next week is MAP testing so we're getting all prepared and having the social studies EOC on Wednesday. I'm just so busy. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and please subscribe. No flames please.


	16. Book Sixteen: Fear

Welcome back. It's been about a week since I posted the last chapter. Sorry about that. Show week for CYT just ended. I was really busy with rehearsals and shows. I didn't have time to get on. I'll try to make this chapter good, long, and typed quickly. Hope you enjoy. P.S. The dream genjutsu is based off the idea made by narudeeds in Jinchuriki's Husk. I needed to give credit to him.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 16: Fear

_If any of you think I'm perfect despite the books like Immaturity, Clumsiness, and Loneliness, I'm going to prove you wrong again. I'm not perfect. I'm a normal person. I may be many awesome things like said in the books Strength, Trustworthiness, and Mercy, but I'm also scared. I'm not as amazing as you think._

_I get scared so easily, maybe not of enemies or animals, but definitely of death (not my own) and harm to my friends. That's why I always protect them with my life._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was reading the first few pages Naruto's latest book, _Fear, from his desk_. She couldn't believe Naruto was ever scared. She had seen him rush into so many battles and fights that he seemed impossible to scare, except for when she threatened him that is.

What could ever scare Naruto? Well she was learning that currently but that wasn't the point. How could Naruto be scared? That's what she meant. How could Naruto ever be scared when he's done so much without blinking an eye about it? Sakura would never understand.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_Those aren't the only things I'm afraid of. I'm afraid of disappearing. I'm afraid that one day everyone will forget I exist and I'll just become part of the background music again. I don't want that to happen. I wouldn't be able to handle it. I would rather die._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto ran through the crowd. He and his friends had agreed to meet up for ramen and he wasn't going to miss it for the world. As he raced through the town he noticed that something was off. Nobody seemed to even notice him. He took a risk and punched a man who just fell, stood back up, mumbled something about being clumsy, and walked away.

To say Naruto was surprised was an understatement. How could a man be punched and blame it on clumsiness? Didn't he feel any pressure or pain from Naruto's fist? It made no sense. Naruto began running again and came upon Ichiraku Ramen Stand. He burst in and began calling about.

No one looked his way. It was like they couldn't even hear him. How could that be? Naruto slowly reached out and poked Sakura and she turned around. Naruto sighed in relief but took back his relief when he noticed the confused look on her face.

"Who are you?" she asked and Naruto's world shattered.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto woke up in a sweat. It was a dream. It was all just a dream. He didn't have to worry. Everyone remembered him. Nobody forgot he existed. It was okay. Naruto felt something fall on his arm and looked up to try and find a leak when he realized it wasn't raining.

He put a hand to his face and found that he was crying. He hadn't done that in awhile. It seemed almost unnatural. He didn't fight it though and laid back down in bed to cry away the fear.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Itachi gave a small 'hm' in approval of his plan. His genjutsu had worked. That meant his plan had a high chance of success. Itachi moved from his spot on the light pole outside of Naruto's house. He would be returning to the temporary base he had made.

Kisame had been sent on a mission with a different group and was going to be coming to help with the end of the plan after it came to the ending scenes. This was just in case something went wrong. As Itachi went over this in his head he quietly made his way outside of Konoha.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I've been having nightmares. They're horrible. They show me my biggest fear. They always seem to go the same every single time. I can barely sleep because of them. They break me down. They kill me on the inside. They scare me. I need help. I need them to stop._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura noticed something was wrong with Naruto at Ichiraku when he started eating his ramen slowly. It was almost like he wasn't hungry. That made no sense at all. Naruto was always hungry for ramen, always. She decided to ask him about it.

"Hey Naruto," she called and he turned towards her uninterestedly. "What's got you down?" Naruto's face tightened slightly before he looked back at his bowl and Sakura almost missed this small clue. He was hiding something. "What are you hiding?" He continued to stare blankly at his bowl. "TELL ME DAMN IT!" Sakura finally screamed before hitting Naruto in the back of the head.

Naruto's face went straight into the counter and didn't stop there. It ended up leaving a small indent in the counter. Ino turned towards the two with a piece of ramen noodle from her vegetable ramen dangling from her mouth. She rolled her eyes then finished her bowl and paid.

After doing that, Ino stood up and pried Naruto's face out of the counter. She then sat back down. If things continued like this then it would be a long day for her. Sakura sat in her seat with a worried face. Naruto was ignoring her and didn't even react when she hit him. That never meant anything good.

"Naruto, please tell me what's wrong," she pleaded and this time Naruto looked at her with actual emotion on his face. This emotion scared Sakura though. It wasn't joy or anger. It was a haunting emotion of desperation, fear, and complete and total agony.

"The nightmares keep occurring. They won't leave me alone. They haunt me like a ghost. What do they want from me?! What do they want?!" Naruto yelled. Sakura could barely make sense of his words. He was having nightmares? She had to find out what was going on.

"Naruto calm down. What's going on? What do you mean by nightmares and haunting?" she asked. Naruto, realizing that Sakura couldn't understand him, began taking calming breaths then began talking again.

"I've been having nightmares," he began then explained all that the nightmares contained. Sakura listened intently, taking in every detail and watching Naruto's face for anything that could tell her he's lying. She saw none. He was being completely truthful, and it scared her to death.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto lay in bed. He couldn't sleep he knew he would just have that nightmare again. He couldn't keep going through this. He'd never survive. Naruto got up and walked to his desk. He grabbed his radio and set it on his night stand. He flicked it on and smiled. Hopefully that would help him sleep.

Naruto then lay back down and got comfortable. This would be a long night but with his radio on he knew there were people out there, that he wasn't alone. Naruto smiled. He was never alone, never.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura woke up to a scream that pierced the whole village. Just from listening Sakura could tell who it was and was immediately out of bed and dressed. She dashed out of the house and began sprinting from roof to roof.

She was at Naruto's apartment in no time. The scream had amplified by twenty times its original volume as Sakura had approached the apartment. She knocked cautiously but the screaming continued. Sakura tested the door. It was locked. She identified the place of her money hiding spot and prepared to head there once this was over.

Sakura slammed into the door, breaking the wood while leaving the pieces with hinges and lock and doorknob in place. Sakura looked back with a confused face. Strong lock and hinges apparently. She then refocused her mind and made her way to Naruto's room.

Sakura examined the room and found Naruto asleep. He was screaming but he was doing it unconsciously. He was on the floor struggling and thrashing, sending covers and pillows and other random items flying and sliding everywhere. Tears streamed down his face. Sakura knelt down beside him.

"Naruto," she called as she shook him. Naruto continued screaming. He hadn't woken up. Sakura shook him harder. "Naruto!" she cried again, still nothing. She finally resorted to her last resort. Sakura pulled her fist back and punched Naruto in the face. "NARUTO!" she screamed desperately.

Naruto's body reeled and the screaming stopped. Sakura looked down at Naruto. His cheek was starting to swell from where she had punched him and she felt sorry for that, but he was starting to stir and she was thankful that she had woke him up.

"Ow," Naruto moaned as he gained consciousness. "OW, OW, OW, OW, OWW!" He quickly sat up and held his cheek. Sakura sat down next to him, relieved. Sakura had finally waked Naruto up.

"Let me heal that," Sakura commented as she put her hand to his face and began the healing process. Naruto placed a hand on his throat. It was soar from screaming and his voice was getting hoarse. Sakura instructed him to remain on the floor then grabbed him a glass of water. He drank it in one swallow. "Thanks," he muttered. "You can go home now."

"I'm not leaving you here alone. Especially not since you had a nightmare like that. I'll just be spending the night. Now you're either staying on the floor or getting back into bed." Naruto stood up and climbed back into bed. He was getting comfortable when he felt a rustle on the bed. Naruto looked up to see Sakura climbing next to him into the bed.

"Ep! EP EP EP EP!"Naruto yelled as Sakura climbed into his bed. It wasn't like he didn't want to share a bed with her or was annoyed that she was using his bed, he was just surprised. Sakura looked at him confused then smirked.

"What, afraid I'll give you the cooties?" she asked playfully. Naruto just grabbed a pillow and began walking to the living room when Sakura grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the bed. She then laid her head on his chest and hugged him. "Don't get the wrong idea. I'm just doing this because you're having nightmares. Otherwise I wouldn't even be in your bed." Naruto just laughed before wrapping an arm around Sakura and falling asleep.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

The next morning had been awkward but easily confronted and fixed. That had been two weeks ago. The nightmares had continued, but no one saved him anymore. Naruto stopped bringing them up and just began hiding his fear.

He didn't want to worry his friends, plus it was an irrational fear. His friends wouldn't forget him. How could they? They would have to have their minds wiped. That couldn't possibly happen. Naruto thought so anyway.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_The nightmares have been getting worse. No one is saving me from them and I can't blame my friends. I haven't really told them about them. I can't. I don't want to worry them. I'll just have to deal with these and hope I pull through. I should make it though._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was walking down the street. It was Saturday and many people were out getting groceries so there was a large crowd in the shopping area with him. Naruto smiled at all the people. It was a nice day outside and he was really enjoying himself.

Naruto continued his little walk. He decided to visit one of the shops. He needed groceries and now was as perfect a time as any to get them. Naruto happily stepped inside the store without seeing the figure standing on the rooftop across the street.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Itachi decided that it was time for his plan to begin its final process. He sent a shadow clone to Kisame to inform him then began to meditate. Once the clone returned he began.

Itachi summoned hundreds of clones and sent them running around Konoha casting a genjutsu on everyone. Every time someone came under the influence of the genjutsu they forgot about seeing Itachi and continued on with their normal tasks. It was perfect.

(Author's note: Okay, Itachi can cast a genjutsu by pointing his finger, so isn't it plausible for him to cast one using a clone?)

Doing this took a lot of effort and chakra so Itachi was not happy but satisfied that he had meditated for weeks on end to raise his chakra amount. If he hadn't then he would've lost all chakra and possibly died within seconds of starting the jutsu. This was going to take a long time.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto had just delivered the groceries to his apartment. It had been a strange trip though. He had bumped into he didn't know how many people because of the groceries but none of them seemed to notice. It was kind of freaky.

Naruto ignored it and left the apartment to go see his friends. They had plans to meet up and have Ichiraku for lunch. It was going to be great.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Kisame was amazed. Even the most expert Konoha shinobi seemed to be under the effects of Itachi's genjutsu. It worked so well that Kisame and Itachi were basically invisible. The basically meant they had to avoid all Aburame clan members as the fact that their bugs would keep them from being affected by the genjutsu. They walked calmly through the village as they searched for where they would be taking Naruto from.

(Author's note: Can you blame me for making Itachi have such a powerful genjutsu? I mean, he's even caught Kurenai the genjutsu master in one. Sorry if you think it's overpowered.)

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto couldn't believe it. His nightmare was coming to life. Nobody noticed him. Nobody realized they were bumping into him and not being clumsy. Nobody even realized he existed. Naruto had to escape. He had to make sure that it wasn't true.

Naruto bolted for Icharaku. If he could get them to notice and remember him then it would all be fine. It would just be that the villagers were ignoring him again. That would be it. He could make it be alright as long as his friends knew he was there.

Within seconds of arriving at Ichiraku, Naruto started yelling. Nothing happened. Not even Teuchi turned towards him and normally he would scold him and tell him to stop ruining his business before asking if he wanted anything.

Not even Sakura reacted. She never ignored him when he started yelling. She always hit him. It couldn't be happening. It couldn't. Naruto fell to his knees crying. This was the worst thing possible. He was doomed to be forgotten.

Naruto stayed on the ground crying until he heard a voice call out to him. He looked around for them. If one person remembered him then he was saved. That was it. They could save. The voice called again from a rooftop and Naruto looked up but his face grew angry instead of happy like it should have been. Itachi and Kisame were standing on top of a store on the side of the street Naruto was in.

"It's nice to see you again, Naruto-kun," Itachi greeted. Naruto growled dangerously. "Still haven't learned to control your temper I see." Naruto charged at Itachi ready to punch but only ended up hitting the roof of the building. He rubbed his bruised knuckles and looked down at Itachi who was now in the street.

"You caused this!" Naruto screamed. All the fear he had experienced over the past few weeks turned into rage. Itachi was the reason that Naruto had been scared. The reason Naruto had felt so much pain. He had to be destroyed. "I'LL KILL YOOOOOOOUUUUU!" Naruto cried to the heavens. Itachi and Kisame both winced at how loud it was.

"Quiet down brat," Kisame complained, holding his ears. Naruto turned his hate filled eyes towards Kisame. A clone appeared and began forming a rasengan in Naruto's hand. Kisame simply smirked and pulled Samehada off his back, prepared to block Naruto's rasengan.

Samehada was raised as Naruto charged but Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kisame turned around. The world had gone in slow motion. Naruto was behind him with a rasengan in his hand. Kisame quickly raised Samehada again and finally blocked the deadly rasengan that had been heading towards him.

Kisame laughed at Naruto then brought Samehada up to slash Naruto in half. He was surprised though when all he hit was the ground. Kisame quickly looked around to see two Naruto's standing behind him with kunai drawn. Kisame brought Samehada around with incredible speed and blocked the attack of one Naruto while grabbing the other and throwing it back.

With the strength he was known for, Kisame easily swung Samehada from her gentle blocking spot down into a slice that cut the first Naruto in two. It disappeared in a puff of smoke while the other Naruto grabbed a second kunai and charged forward. Kisame turned away from Naruto at the last second with Samehada behind his back and waited for Naruto to hit it before swinging Samehada over his head, catapulting Naruto towards the ramen stand.

Naruto twisted himself to face Kisame so that his feet harmlessly connected with the top of the stand before he shot himself at Kisame. Having Samehada in front of him now, Kisame simply raised it and blocked Naruto's attack, catapulting him again but in the opposite direction. Naruto again caught himself and rocketed towards Kisame with deadly speed.

This continued on for five minutes. Naruto would fly off a building with amazing speed towards Kisame. Kisame would block his attack then fling Naruto in a random direction using Samehada. Both were breathing heavily, Kisame more than Naruto, after the five minutes. Naruto raised his kunai for a final charge. This was going to end it. Naruto rushed forward on foot, his target getting closer with every second.

Kisame again raised Samehada to block Naruto's attack but stopped when he heard swirling coming from above his head. Kisame looked up to realize his mistake in trying to block the first Naruto when a second Naruto came crashing down on him with a rasengan that hit Kisame straight in the face, creating a large crater around the now slightly buried shark-man.

The clone with the kunai disappeared as Naruto calmly walked out of the crater and set his hateful gaze on Itachi. The genjutsu mastered stared back with an indifferent look in his eyes. Naruto found that he was able to look Itachi in the eyes due to his already in use genjutsu. Naruto could look at Itachi's face without being sucked into a genjutsu because of this and smiled mockingly at Itachi. Itachi sighed before pulling two shuriken out and tossing them at Naruto.

Naruto sidestepped the shuriken that was heading straight for him but found that to be a mistake as the shuriken whipped back around in front of Naruto. Naruto was confused until he saw a ray of light reflect off something behind the shuriken. It was ninja wire! It was just like when Sasuke tied him to the rock during their battle at the Valley of the End. Naruto was smarter this time though.

Naruto ducked below the ninja wire. He drew a kunai and flung it at Itachi's feet. It met no target though and simply stuck itself in the side of a building. Naruto looked up at the feeling of intense heat and dived to the side, too late though as his left leg from the knee down was seared.

"Damn it!" Naruto muttered as he stood up, testing his leg. It hurt but it would last long enough for him to finish this battle. Naruto looked up to see Itachi standing a few feet away from him. Naruto threw three shuriken at him and charged after them with a kunai in hand.

Itachi waved his arm and Naruto was confused at this move until he saw his shuriken connect with three other shuriken. There were more shuriken following those shuriken though. Naruto raised his kunai and knocked each one out of the air as he ran. A burst of pain came from Naruto's left leg, causing him to stumble, but Naruto caught himself and continued to speed forward.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Shino was lucky that he hadn't been realized to be an Aburame by the two Akatsuki members. If Naruto could hold Itachi back a little bit longer, then his bugs would finish eating Itachi's chakra and the genjutsu would be ended. After that Shino could reveal himself and get the others to join him in helping Naruto.

All he had to do was wait a little bit longer. A minute or two should do it. He could signal Naruto what was happening and that would help Naruto to know to keep Itachi held off a little bit longer.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Itachi drew a kunai and blocked Naruto's charge with a small parry. He connected his blade with Naruto's, gracefully weaving his while Naruto hacked and chopped. This continued for a few minutes until Itachi knocked Naruto's kunai away. Naruto quickly jumped back.

He looked at the ramen stand to make sure that everyone was okay and noticed Shino watching him. Naruto gave a confused face but understood when Shino held a finger to his mouth then held out a hand, showing his bugs. Naruto quickly changed his face back to that of determination, hoping Itachi didn't notice his gaze. Shino turned back to the counter of the ramen stand and waited.

Naruto grabbed his kunai from the ground and rushed forward again. Itachi's blade again met Naruto's in a battle of endurance. Naruto hacked and chopped still but the energy put into each slice lessened to conserve. Itachi noticed this and began to question when pain suddenly jolted through his whole body and he went to a knee. Naruto took this as the cue and jumped back.

"What did you do?" Itachi questioned Naruto. Naruto laughed.

"It wasn't me," he said as he pointed towards the ramen stand. Itachi turned his head to see Shino stand up and walk towards the two.

"Actually it was me. My bugs helped me escape your genjutsu and once the battle started I immediately slipped my bugs onto you. That means you'll soon have to release this genjutsu," Shino explained placidly. Itachi felt another ping of pain and knew he was right. He stood up, released the genjutsu, grabbed Kisame, and escaped, knowing that he had lost the battle.

"Thanks Shino," Naruto acknowledged as he leaned against a building. Shino nodded and walked over to help Naruto limp to the hospital. All of Naruto's friends in the ramen stand began to regain their senses while that happened.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I did it. I conquered my fears. They were all a genjutsu caused by Itachi Uchiha, the rogue Uchiha killer. He was trying to wear me down and take me to the Akatsuki. I defeated him though, with the help of my friends and now I'll be able to rest easy. I knew I would pull through. I mean, there's nothing really to fear but fear itself._

\(O.O)/

Sorry that it took so long to finish this book. I think it turned out well. Please forgive me. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review and please no flames.


	17. Book Seventeen: Peace

I'm back once again. I'm 41 Books of Me calling out to all my wonderful readers. How are you all enjoying the story? I've been getting so many questions about why 41. I'm not sure really. I just want to show who I really am I guess. That's why I used it as a pen name and then for this story.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 17: Peace

_It may not seem like it but I'm very peaceful. I know it's hard to believe but I enjoy just having my moments of silence, those times when I can just relax without anyone disturbing me. It makes my life exciting but restful. That's why I took up gardening. I really enjoy it. Not many people know that though._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat in a folding chair in his little greenhouse behind his apartment complex. He had just planted three new carrots and a few flowers. It was nice to know that he could sell some of his vegetables for extra money when he needed it.

The flowers were nice too. They made the greenhouse look prettier and much more inviting. That was the only reason Naruto was allowed to keep the old shack. The flowers got the complex more business because people liked to stay there until they could afford a house so that they could go around back and see the flowers.

Naruto gave a little sigh. He had a nice life, even with the Kyuubi sealed inside him. That only made it more interesting. Naruto reclined in his folding chair and put his hands behind his head before dozing off in the comfortably warm greenhouse.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura was walking to Naruto's apartment. She was bored and needed him for company so that she wouldn't go insane. It seemed that mostly everyone was on missions. Ino was with her team helping a small village to interrogate suspicious characters for their knowledge of a recent crime, Hinata was tracking down some vandalizing teenagers who were good with hiding, and everyone else was off on other missions.

Sakura swore that her head would explode from boredom. If anyone could help, it was Naruto. His crazy antics never ceased to bring on fun little adventures. Sometimes they were annoying, but they could be fun too.

Sakura walked straight up to Naruto's apartment and knocked, but got no answer. Sakura tested the door. It was locked. That meant he was asleep or out. Considering he usually didn't sleep this late, Sakura walked down to the owner's room. She knocked politely until a short man with a long, white beard that reached his waist answered the door.

"Yes, yes, who is it?" he asked sternly and Sakura could see from his attitude why Naruto feared him. The man may have been short, but he was ready to fight at a moment's notice. Plus Sakura could tell that he probably had some weapons hidden under his beard.

"Hello, I'm Sakura Haruno. I was wondering if you knew where Naruto is at the moment." The old man looked at her grimly before questioning.

"You mean the Uzumaki brat?" A vein bulged on Sakura's forehead.

"Yes that would be him," she answered angrily. The old man smirked.

"The brat's out back in his greenhouse. I don't see why I let him keep it." The owner continued to mumble as he walked back inside and closed the door. Sakura let out a deep breath to calm her then began to walk around the complex to see Naruto.

She spotted a greenhouse full of flowers and vegetables and began inspecting it. Was this the old shack the man had mentioned? Sakura walked closer and looked inside a window. There were a lot more vegetables and flowers inside than she had thought. Sakura looked around a little more and noticed Naruto snoozing in a folding chair in the corner. He looked really peaceful.

Sakura quietly snuck in and walked up to Naruto. Seeing the smile on his sleeping face discouraged her from waking him. She decided to look around some more instead. Sakura couldn't believe how well a gardener Naruto was. Some of the flowers looked to be as well cared for as Ino's family's flowers. Sakura continued her little tour unbeknownst to the unconscious blonde jinchuriki.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was having a dream; a pleasant dream. He was walking down the street. Everyone in Konoha seemed to be outside. He turned a corner and continued his walk to Ichiraku Ramen. All his friends were expecting him.

It was a very nice day. The nice was shining hot, making the day warm, but not too warm because a gentle breeze blew through town to cool everyone off. Naruto looked around at the people who all smiled at him as he passed by. He kindly smiled back and greeted them all.

As Naruto arrived, he was happy to see his friends sitting at the stand. They all had food but Naruto found it kind that all of them, including Choji, had waited to eat until he got there and ordered his. Naruto sat down and said hi to everyone before ordering 17 large miso ramens.

As Naruto began to slurp his noodles he listened to the pleasant conversation that floated around the small stand. He heard Sakura's voice and instantly tuned in. It sounded like she was talking to Ino about flowers.

"What's this one?" She would ask every few seconds. Curious, Naruto turned to see Sakura holding nothing as Ino named off random flowers that Naruto didn't even think existed. Just then Sakura turned to Naruto. "Can you help me? What's this one?" she asked, still holding nothing.

"You don't have any-" Naruto was cut off as Sakura began to grumble.

"Why do you always have to be out cold or something like that when I need you?" Naruto became confused. Out cold? He was awake right now. Wait, was he dreaming. As the world started to fade out, Naruto got his awnser.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Slowly Naruto's eyes opened to see Sakura's face only inches from his. She was staring straight at him still unaware that he was awake. She kept knocking on his forehead, chanting "Wake up".

"Um…..Sakura-chan?" Naruto called, a large blush forming on his face. Sakura, who hadn't been paying attention and had been staring at his forehead while knocking on it looked down to see Naruto staring straight back at her.

"AAAHH!" Sakura screamed, surprised by Naruto's sudden consciousness. Sakura instinctively punched Naruto in the face before stumbling back and falling on her butt. Naruto lay bleeding on the ground two feet away from his toppled chair.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Sakura apologized quickly to the groaning Naruto that was bleeding out on the floor. Sakura's hands began glowing green immediately as she healed Naruto, all the while apologizing to him.

"It's okay," Naruto assured the frantic Sakura. "I'm fine. I can walk and I don't have a concussion or anything. You made sure of that remember?" Sakura smiled. Naruto was right about that. She did make sure of that.

"Come on, let's take a walk," Sakura offered as she held her hand out to help Naruto up. Naruto happily accepted her help and offer and they both left the greenhouse.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_It's sad but even my peaceful days are pretty exciting, or I mean to say they're still crazy. I just can't help but keep things fun. No matter how peaceful my day might be, I'll always get punched by Sakura at least once. Plus it's always fun because I get to see Her._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto and Sakura walked at a slow leisurely pace. It was a calm and settling day. Naruto walked in his normal pose of his eyes closed and his head leaned back against his arms which were behind his head. Sakura giggled.

"Why do you walk like that?" she questioned happily. Naruto turned his head towards her with a grin plastered on his face.

"It's relaxing; comfortable," he explained. Sakura nodded and mimicked his pose but couldn't see the comfort in it at all. Naruto laughed. "I think so anyway." Sakura nodded and they continued their walk.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat at his desk. He was going to write before going to bed. Writing always seemed to help him sleep better. Slowly Naruto picked up his pencil and smiled.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I love my peaceful days. I get to see Her, I get to hang out with my friends, I get to tend to my garden, and I get to eat ramen and take naps. They're really awesome. They don't last though. I don't really mind. I love missions just as much._

\(O.O)/

I'm sorry this took so long.

I'm sorry it's so short.

I just had a really hard time with this chapter. That meant I couldn't do much with it. If you hate me for it then fine but please don't hate the story. Please review and please no flames.


	18. Book Eighteen: Justice

Well I've gotten complaints. FUCK! Yep. People are beginning to dislike the story. Crap. Sorry. Hope you enjoy.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 18: Justice

_I think everyone deserves equality. Everyone is the same. The weaker and the stronger are equal. I may sometimes be stupid and brag but really everyone is equal. Even the weakest civilian has the same rights as the strongest shinobi._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto leaned back in his chair. Memories of his childhood flooding back to him. Justice was all he wanted back then. That's why he felt inclined to bring it now. He wanted to give people the justice that he was denied when he was little. As Naruto's consciousness began to slip, he felt himself mentally fall out of his body and through the floor; straight into the past.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

A six year old Naruto ran through the village with a large smile on his face. Some kids had asked played with him yesterday and had asked him to come back to play with them again today. As the park came into view, Naruto's smile grew considerably wider.

He dashed into the park and continued his sprint for the playground. He could see the kids and began to wave and shout at them. They turned and Naruto slowed and began to frown in confusion when they looked at each other panicked and began running away to their parents.

'Why did they run away?' Naruto questioned himself mentally. It made no sense. All he wanted to do was play with them. They had even asked for him to join them in playing again today. Frowning, Naruto made his way to the swings. Silently he sat in the swing and swung back and forth like a pendulum.

"DEMON!" Naruto looked up, frightened by the sudden shout. Terror overtook his body as he saw a mob of adults with knives and kunai running at him. Naruto unconsciously began running and before he knew it was out of the park.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Little Naruto stumbled forward tiredly until he came to a bench and laid down on it. He was still out of breath from his run from the adults. He had a few nicks and cuts from kunai that had been thrown but other than that he was fine.

As his ability to breathe finally returned Naruto stood up and began his long trudge home. Unluckily he had ended up on the opposite side of the village and sunset was already arriving. With his horrible luck it would be midnight before he got even close to home, especially if he had to stick to the side alleys and back roads to avoid the villagers.

As Naruto slunk home, he began thinking. He thought about all of the torture he had been put through. He thought about all of the hatred people had for him. He thought about all of the ways people mistreated him. The frown on his face grew with each new thought that popped into his head.

"I wish….I wish that I could fight back and get the justice I deserve on all of them," Naruto mumbled to himself, but shook his head. "No….I wish that I could make them see that I deserve just as much love as all of the other kids. That's what I want. I don't want to beat people up and make them love me because they're afraid of me. I want them to love me because I'm good. I deserve to be loved too."

A smile began to form on Naruto's face. If he could just show people that he's a good kid then they would love him just like all of the other kids. Naruto began to run home. He was laughing happily at the thought that he would now get to be loved.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_You see, I was never really treated right or loved when I was a little kid. That's why I developed this feel of justice. I felt I deserved to be loved like every other child. This just made me realize that everyone deserve equal rights. Thus, my sense of justice was born._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Little Naruto continued to slurp ramen down at the speed of a cheetah when he heard a noise. Naruto turned around to see a raven haired boy with an Uchiha symbol on his back. The boy had a sense of pride to him that basically radiated off of him like heat and seemed to be around the same age as Naruto.

"Aren't you eating a bit too much of that?" the boy inquired. Naruto looked down to his bowl then back at the boy. His eyebrows were scrunched together in thought. When he decided his answer at last, Naruto swallowed his mouth full of noodles and smiled.

"You can never eat too much ramen," he beamed. The boy raised his eyebrows in consideration of Naruto's answer.

"Okay," the raven head finally agreed. "I only asked because my parents are always telling me to eat right so that I'll get to be as good as my brother. You're appointed to your opinion though and I'll respect that." With that said, the boy walked off.

Naruto looked down at his bowl again and began thinking. Should he eat healthier? Is ramen that bad? The gears in Naruto's head turned slowly over the situation. He couldn't rush his thinking here or he might make a mistake.

After a few more minutes of thought, Naruto came to his conclusion. Ramen was a healthy enough food. It had many different food groups. The noodles were grain, the vegetables came from any he had floating in the broth, all the meats he had made the protein, and there were other things to fill the food groups he couldn't think of. A smile spread across Naruto's face. He was so clever.

Still, something bothered Naruto. The boy had said his parents had told him to eat healthier so that he could get better. He was obviously loved by his parents. Naruto, though, didn't know his parents and definitely didn't seem to be loved. That boy was lucky.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Little Naruto sat in the Hokage's office with a smile on his paint stained face. All of him seemed to be doused in white paint. His hair was matted down with it and his clothes seem to be glued to him because of it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi paced tiredly behind his desk, taking occasional glances at the little Naruto. This was going to be another very long day at the office. Finally, after a few more minutes of pacing, he sat down in his chair and laid his head in his hands.

"So Naruto, what did you do this time?" he asked as he raised his head to look the little blonde in the eyes. Naruto's grin grew in size.

"Well," he started, "I painted 'Naruto's a good boy who deserves to be loved' in white paint on every building I could." Hiruzen sighed and placed his head in his hands again. He waved for Naruto to come closer and waited as Naruto stood up and walked over. A humorous smile fluttered onto Hiruzen's face.

"I guess I haven't done a good enough job of teaching you how to get people to like you. I guess I can take today to do that." As he stood up, Hiruzen picked Naruto up and set the blonde on his shoulders then began to walk out of the building and down the street.

As he walked, Hiruzen talked about respect and ways to earn it. He talked about what love meant and that bonds were a great thing to obtain. Naruto listened intently to the Third Hokage. Hiruzen smiled as he talked about his family and how they loved each other and how that love kept them together.

When the walk was over, Naruto smiled happily and walked out of the Hokage's office to which they had returned. He had new ideas on how to gain his love, respect and rights, and now he wasn't going to be bad. He was going to make sure that everyone knew that he was a good boy who deserved to be loved. He would do this through standing up for them all. He'd protect everyone, especially the pretty little pink haired girl he'd seen yesterday.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto sat up from his writing. He had written all of it down, all of the memories. He had left out the part about Sakura, and substituted that that was the day he had promised to always protect Her, a.k.a. Sakura Haruno.

Naruto stood up and stretched. He had decided to take a walk half way through his writing. He needed this walk especially since he needed some groceries. Naruto turned off the lamp on his desk and grabbed his keys off the hook on his way out the door. Locking the door, he headed on his way.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I promised then, and I still promise now, that I'll protect everyone in Konohagakure and every other weak and innocent person. I'll make sure that everyone gets the same rights and respect. Hopefully someday I'll accomplish this._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto was on his way home from the store, his arms full of grocery bags. He stopped though when he noticed a small boy being picked on by other boys. Naruto quickly walked over and set his groceries down.

"Hey!" he called all of the boys turned to look at him. "Why are you picking on him?" The two bullies snickered before one turned to yell back.

"The kid's poor as a hobo," the leader, who wore an out of place fedora, a plain light blue tee shirt, and brown and green shorts, answered with a sneer.

"That doesn't give you any right to bully him." This time the taller boy, who had glasses, slicked back blonde hair, a gray shirt with the word "Devil" on it, and red shorts, answered.

"Well he owes us money and we just want him to pay us it." Naruto saw the small boy shake his head "no".

"One, you're lying and two, if you want to leave here uninjured I'd suggest you leave him alone. I don't want to hurt you but if you touch him in any threatening way I will attack." The fedora boy sneered.

"Yeah?! And what will you do?!" he taunted. Naruto simply grinned evilly and summoned a shadow clone before forming a rasengan.

"This is called the Rasengan, or spiraling ball technique. It's a ball made purely of chakra and trust me it hurts when it hits." Both bullies mocked fear.

"Oh nooooooo. Don't hurt us," the boy with the glasses laughed. Naruto's grin only grew as he took the rasengan and slammed it into the ground. A huge explosion ensued and all three of the boys were blown off their feet. They all watched as the smoke cleared and saw Naruto standing behind a crater at least three feet in diameter and four feet down.

The slicked back blonde and fedora wearing boy looked at each other before standing up and sprinting for home. Naruto calmly walked over to the little boy they had been harassing. His hair was grey like Kakashi's but instead of being spiked up it laid flat on his head like Neji's.

His hair was short, almost in a buzz cut. He had on a purple tee shirt with an unzipped red jacket over it. His pants of choice were tan cargo pants that had large pockets on them. Naruto helped the boy up and smiled at him.

"What's your name?" he greeted. The small boy looked at him with a small bit of fear but held out his hand for a handshake. Naruto gladly accepted.

"Uh….M-my name i-is Domori," the boy stuttered. Naruto raised one eyebrow in confusion.

"Your parents named you Stutter? As in the noun?" he laughed. Domori smiled.

"Y-yes." Naruto smiled.

"Well I'm Naruto. I'm happy I was able to help you. I hope you have a nice day." Slowly began to walk away but stopped when Domori called.

"Th-thank you Naruto-san!" he bellowed. Naruto waved at him with a large grin plastered on his face.

"You're welcome. Good luck, little Stutter." With that done, Naruto grabbed his groceries and walked back to his apartment. He sorted out his groceries and put them away before brushing his teeth and going to bed.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_Just because I made that promise when I was little doesn't mean that I won't keep it until the end of my days. Everyone deserves respect and love. Everyone has the same rights. No matter how strong or weak, I'll try to protect everyone._

\(O.O)/

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I thought it was a nice touch to send the story back in time and to add Naruto meeting Sasuke and Sakura. If you don't like how they met then go ahead and yell but please don't hate the story. Please review and please no flames.

P.S. If any of you new authors out there are reading this, listening to music that goes along with what you're going to write helps a lot. When I was writing this chapter I kept listening to "Gotta Be Somebody" by Nickleback over and over again. It helps, trust me.


	19. Book Nineteen: Charm

I've been told that I need more NaruSaku. I'll bring more. It may not be too much because remember that I do need to make this stretch out another, including this one, 23 books. Yeah…..that's why I'm conservative with it.

I don't own Naruto.

41 Books of Me

Book 19: Charm

_I can be very charming, in a clumsy make a fool of myself kind of way, I mean. You may want to argue with me, but on pretty much all of my adventures I've gotten a girl to like me. It's the truth. I guess I'm very attractive to girls of other lands and territories. I can't say I impress all girls but I can say that I impress a lot._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Today Naruto planned to ask Sakura out on a date. Hopefully she'd say yes, and then he could charm her and show her how much he cares for her. Maybe then there'd be at least a bigger chance of her loving him.

Naruto looked over his supplies again. He had the tux for if she said yes to the date, the flowers for asking her out, the note he'd leave in the flowers with a toad that he'd summon to be released to go home if she said no so that she'd find the note to read.

Smiling he picked up the flowers and hung the tux back in the closet. He began to walk out the door but hesitated. Should he really do this? Did she really want to go on a date with him? What if he got rejected? Naruto sighed and set the flowers on his kitchen counter, then sat on the couch.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Choji and Shikamaru were having lunch in the barbecue restaurant like usual. The last piece of meat was on the table and Shikamaru had smartly put his chopsticks down. Choji was going for the meat when Naruto sat down by him and distracted the two friends.

"Oh phew. I thought I could find the two of you hear. I need your help," Naruto greeted in an awkward seeming way. Shikamaru raised one eyebrow while Choji shrugged and started to reach for the meat again.

"What do you need our help on?" Shikamaru asked tiredly. Naruto smiled.

"I knew I could come to you guys for help!" Naruto beamed. He then explained the situation to the two slightly interested boys.

"Well," Shikamaru started when the story was done, "I think you should just ask her out. You'll probably need to get some more flowers but you definitely need to ask her out." Naruto smiled.

"Thanks!" he exclaimed, excited for his chance to ask out Sakura. "I swear I'll pay your guys' bill." Naruto then grabbed the last piece of meat and ate it, a large grin spreading across his face. Shikamaru's face changed into horror.

"You moron!" he snapped.

"What did I do?!"

"You took the last piece of meat…" Shikamaru and Naruto both turned to look at Choji's red and enraged face as Naruto realized his mistake.

"I'm sorry!"

"Don't apologize! Order more!"

"PARTIAL EXPANSION JUTSU!"

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto felt like his whole body had been crushed by an elephant, which it pretty much had been. Choji had punched Naruto through the wall of the BBQ restaurant and straight over to the other side of Konoha. It hadn't been a pretty sight when Naruto landed.

Naruto wiped away the last bit of blood before continuing on his way to the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Ino looked up as the bell dinged meaning that a customer had entered. She was surprised to see Naruto coming into the shop. He had been in the shop less than a week ago.

"What are you doing here? Didn't you get a bouquet like, I don't know, four days ago?" she inquired curiously. Naruto grinned.

"Well the other bouquet died and I didn't get to use it." Ino sighed.

"You've got issues if you can kill a bouquet of flowers that fast," she grumbled. Naruto just laughed.

"I may do gardening, but I'm not good with flowers that don't have roots." This time Ino laughed before handing him the finished bouquet and accepting the money that was owed.

"Well, this time, make sure you ask Sakura out before they die," she teased. Naruto just nodded his rapidly reddening face before leaving the shop.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura walked down the sidewalk. It was around five in the afternoon and she had just gotten off work at the hospital. She yawned as she walked and dreamed of taking a nice nap before making herself dinner. She stayed in her little happy world until a boyish yell that quickened her heart rate pierced it's way to her.

"Sakura-chan!" the voice called. Sakura turned around confused. She didn't know anyone that could make her feel flushed at all other than Sasuke. Inner Sakura smirked when Naruto came into sight and Sakura had to shove her inner self into a mental safe to keep from herself from being annoyed by herself.

"Hey Naruto," Sakura greeted happily as Naruto came to a stop at Sakura's side. A goofy grin spread across the blonde's face and Sakura raised an eyebrow in suspicion as to what was hidden behind Naruto's back. "Please don't tell me that you have a chloroform rag behind your back."

Naruto laughed heartily before bringing the flowers out from behind his back and handing them to Sakura. Both teens' cheeks were tinted a pinkish hue as the exchange was made and Sakura felt her heart rate speed up again as she struggled in her head to keep the mental safe closed tight.

"Would you like to go on a date with me tonight?" Naruto asked, a pleading tone hinted into the request. Finally Sakura was sent flying as the mental safe burst open and Inner Sakura shot out and took control.

"HELL YEAH!" Inner Sakura yelled out through Sakura's mouth. Naruto stumbled back and landed hard onto the road from the sudden exclamation. Just then, Sakura's hands shot up to cover her mouth and her face turned a red that was good enough to be compared to Hinata.

'WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!' Sakura exclaimed to her inner self. Inner Sakura simply winked with a knowing smirk spreading across her face.

"**Because he's Naruto-kun,"** Inner Sakura cooed dreamily. Sakura sat there with wide eyes. What the hell was this girl thinking? She just shook her head before shoving Inner Sakura away.

'Fine. I'll go on the stupid date, but you owe me for this.' As the, only five second conversation ended, Sakura took control over her body again and watched as Naruto stood up. His face was redder than she'd ever seen it be.

"Um, wow, okay. Uh wh-when do you want to meet up?" Naruto stuttered nervously. Sakura giggled. He could be cute at times.

"Just drop by my house to pick me up at seven," Sakura beamed, she then walked away to get home quickly for a nap before she changed into some nice clothes. Naruto stood there star struck before he too walked home.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I am pretty charming. I even got Her to go on a date with me. I know it's a one-time thing and that she doesn't really care for me. I guess she's more just giving me a chance. That's why I'm so happy. She's giving me a chance. It might just be because I've annoyed her so many times or because I've done a good amount of things for her. I don't know. Either way, I still charmed her into going on a date with me._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto stood outside of Sakura's house in his new tux. It was a natural tuxedo except for the orange cuff links on his suit jacket sleeves and the orange tie around his neck. Naruto nervously stood in front of Sakura's front door, waiting for the time to change from 6:59 to 7:00. As the silver watch on his wrist ticked out the final seconds and the minute changed, Naruto knocked hesitantly on the front door.

It was Sakura's mother that quickly answered the door and snapped a photo of a surprised and now dazed, from the flash, Naruto. Sakura's mother quickly grabbed Naruto and pulled him inside.

"Give me a moment to get Sakura. Just wait right here," she crowed happily before jogging up the stairs that lead to the bedrooms and bathroom. Naruto stood in the doorway awkwardly. He looked around the house that he'd visited hundreds of times before.

There was the kitchen; the fridge was in the corner with the stove right next to it, then the tiled room just seemed to be filled with cupboards, counters, and cabinets. There was a table that rested in the middle of the room, it was kind of out of place but it still worked just as well as if it were anywhere else.

Then there was the living room. The couch sat with its back facing towards the kitchen and its right side towards the door. There was a small bookshelf, filled to the brim with books, on top of which rested a TV directly across from the couch with a row of two short dressers to the right of the couch like the front door. On top of the dressers sat as many flower pots as the dressers could hold (about 15) each containing one flower. Inside the dressers were spare clothes for when Ino stayed the night. The dressers sat in front of a wall full of windows that gave an beautiful view of the road in front of the house.

That was when Naruto heard someone begin to descend the stairs. Naruto looked forward to see Sakura in a light blue dress walking down the stairs. The dress was sleeveless but had a small neck, showing nothing. The dress opened at Sakura's knee allowing her to walk much easier. The dress was as skimpy as a kitten is evil (which means pretty much 5 on a scale of 0-100). Still, Naruto's jaw dropped and drool began to drip off his chin.

Sakura giggled as she walked over to Naruto and gently closed his mouth. "You're going to catch a fly if you do that," she scolded playfully. Naruto couldn't help but laugh himself. Sakura's mom snapped a picture of the two standing together.

"You two, be back before ten! Be careful and avoid dark alleys."

"Mom," Sakura stopped her mother. "We're shinobi. We'll be fine." Naruto and Sakura then walked outside while waving back at Mrs. Haruno.

"So where are we going?" Sakura inquired to which Naruto simply put a finger to his mouth while a playful and mischievous smile cracked open Naruto's face. He pulled out his headband and slowly tied it around her head. He then slipped it over her eyes. "This is so cliché!" Sakura complained. Naruto just laughed.

"It may be cliché but at least it's meaningful. You know I wouldn't give my headband to anyone," Naruto countered and Sakura couldn't help but smile. That was true. It was pretty meaningful considering her used his headband as the blindfold.

Slowly Naruto lead her through the maze that is Konoha. It took awhile but finally the two teens arrived at their destination and Naruto removed the blindfold that kept Sakura from seeing their location. Slowly she opened her eyes and gasped.

They stood on top of Naruto's apartment complex and in front of them stood a table with two menus, plates, silverware, two cups of water, and a candle in the middle. A waiter stood nearby with a chef with a grill nearby.

"How did you do this? How did we get up here? There aren't any stairs. When did you drag me up the wall?" Sakura questioned Naruto mercilessly. Naruto's smile grew even wider than before.

"Well, I paid one of the fancier restaurants pretty much every cent I had to get them to do this for me. For how I got you up here, well, genjutsu comes in handy at times," Naruto revealed to the amazed Sakura.

"You learned genjutsu?!" she shrieked happily and Naruto sweat dropped.

"Um, no. I owe Kurenai 20 bucks after this date," Naruto sighed. Sakura laughed harder than she had in years. Naruto grinned then began to laugh himself.

When their laughing fit had stopped Naruto lead Sakura to her seat and pulled it out for her then pushed it back in when she was seated. Naruto then took his own seat.

The two of them looked through the menu. Sakura was amazed at how many choices there were considering that the chef only had a few pots and pans along with his grill and a cooler. There was (I don't know any Japanese food so sorry) grilled chicken parmesan, veal oscar, seared duck, rack of lamb, and even Cornish hen. In the end Sakura just decided to go with a salad and Naruto ended up with, of course, the ramen. Sakura wasn't surprised at all. She even put her face in her hand and shook it while giggling to herself.

"What's so funny?" Naruto asked obliviously. Sakura laughed some more.

"What's funny is the fact that you do this giant gourmet picnic thing with a lot of great foods to choose and yet you choose ramen, still," Sakura teased.

"But you only ordered a salad! How can you complain about my choice?" Naruto whined and the two teens laughed happily.

Finally their food arrived and they began to eat quietly. Sakura was amazed at how polite Naruto was being. His table manners were superb compared to how he normally acted when eating ramen. While Sakrua was amazed however, Naruto was crying in his head. He was scared that if he messed up with his manners that Sakura would beat him down like Granny Tsunade had. The training for this date was more painful than even his training with Jiraiya. Was that what Sakura went through?

Sakura noticed sweat dripping down Naruto's forehead. Is he focusing? Why? Why is it so hard for him to focus on whatever it is he's focusing on?

"Naruto," Sakura called and Naruto looked up at her immediately. "Um, why are you so focused and what on?" she questioned politely. Naruto simply moved his bowl and laid his head down on the table before sobbing quietly.

"Granny Tsunade found out about this date and my plans and gave me training on table manners," Naruto explained between sobs. "Every time I messed up she beat me to a pulp." Sakura sat quietly with wide eyes. Before giggling and then straight out laughing her head off.

"That's hilarious!" she cried happily. Naruto simply raised his head and smiled, tears still running down his face.

"I guess it is."

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto and Sakura walked through the almost abandoned Konoha after they had finished their dinner and Naruto paid the rest of the bill that he owed the restaurant to the waiter. It was 9:45 and they were on their way back to Sakura's house when Naruto pulled Sakura into an alley.

"Naruto-" Sakura began but was cut off as Naruto laid a finger on her lips.

"Just trust me," Naruto whispered as he leaned forward, closed his eyes, and kissed Sakura gently. Sakura's eyes shot open in surprise.

'What's he doing?!' Sakura screamed horridly. Inner Sakura just sighed.

"**Can you blame him? He's been in love with you for years," **she quietly asked. Sakura couldn't help but notice how weak her inner self had sounded right then.

'What's wrong?' she asked gently. Inner Sakura stared at her sadly.

"**Can't you feel it? He's crying."** Sakura gasped as she returned to the outside world to feel tears running down her cheeks from Naruto's face as he pulled away. Naruto quickly wiped his eyes and smiled, leaving no trace of his crying except for the tears still on Sakura's face and his red eyes.

"Sorry for doing that. I know you don't really like me and that you wanted to save your first kiss for Sasuke. J-just let me walk you back to your house and you don't have to talk to me ever again!" Naruto stammered out quickly before lightly pulling Sakura back into the road so that they could get back to Sakura's house.

Sakura simply followed dumbly. She was having an enormous argument with her inner self. The two girls were fighting worse than siblings normally do.

'SHUT UP! I DON'T LOVE HIM! I LOVE SASUKE!' Sakura yelled as loud as she could at Inner Sakura.

"**You're just going to ignore his feelings?! And yours for that matter?! He risks his life trying to get stupid Sasuke back for you just because he loves you!" **Inner Sakura retorted.

'I don't love him! I don't care if he loves me! It's better this way because I'm not leading him on!'

"**Fine! Think it's all fine! But don't come crying to me when Naruto gets Sasuke back for you then disappears or kills himself because of the two of you!"** Inner Sakura then opened a mental door walked in and slammed it in Sakura's face.

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Naruto laid in bed thinking. Horrible thoughts clouded his mind right now and he couldn't believe how stupid he was. He kissed Sakura for crying out loud!

'I'm such an idiot. Now she'll never love me. It's all because I just had to kiss her huh?! Why am I so stupid?'

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

_I might be a charmer but I'm also an idiot. Sometimes I use charm too much or too well and I just act stupid or take advantage of the girl letting me be with her. I ruined it with Her on a date tonight. I regret my stupid decision to pull her off to the side and kiss her. I should've known not to. She doesn't like me that way._

(/O.O)/\(O.O\)

Sakura sighed sadly as she closed the book. She had gotten _Charm _almost immediately after it was put on bookstore shelves. She felt really bad for Naruto. How could she have been so inconsiderate? She really needed to apologize. Hopefully he'd still forgive her.

\(O.O)/

Another chapter done! FINALLY! Sorry that this took so long. Hopefully I gave more detail this time. I got some complaints on not having enough detail in my stories, so I hope this chapter does well on that. I really tried hard for you guys. You readers are what inspire me to keep writing. I hope you enjoy. Please review and please no flames. I always take tips and complaints but please no flames.


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